BERLIN, March 27. /TASS/. The motives of German pilot Andreas Lubitz for crashing a Germanwings Airbus, killing all 150 people onboard, remain unclear.
Investigators are considering different theories, including terrorism, epileptic seizure and suicide. Data retrieved from the black box suggest the pilot was calmly breathing at the moment when the plane skydived at 700 km/h.
Police also searched Lubitz’ flat late on Thursday. A number of items have been removed and taken for tests. It was also established that the pilot was undergoing a psychiatric treatment for a year and a half. According to the German Bild newspaper, Lubitz suffered from depression and experienced problems at pilot training because of this.
Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin said that data from the block box suggest that the co-pilot deliberately crashed Flight 9525. He locked the captain out of the cockpit and started descent.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told French network iTele: "On principle, no line of inquiry can be ruled out. We must wait for the end of the inquiry. Justice owes the truth to the victims' families and loved ones, even if yesterday the prosecutor provided enough details to lead us to believe this was a mad, inexplicable, horrible act that was behind the crash."
"Everything points to this act that we are unable to qualify - criminal, mad, suicidal. How can one imagine that a pilot in whom one has full confidence - they are heroes for many people. Who hasn't thought of being a pilot? - could precipitate the plane into the mountain, after closing the door to stop the (other) pilot from entering the cabin," Valls stressed.
On Thursday, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit at the moment of the crash. This information confirmed The New York Times report that one of the pilots exited the cockpit before the accident.
Media reports said that information received from the black box confirms that there was only one pilot in the cockpit at the moment of the crash. The second pilot exited the cockpit for several minutes, but could not get back in. "The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door, and there is no answer," The New York Times wrote citing an investigator. "And then he hits the door stronger, and no answer. There is never an answer. You can hear he is trying to smash the door down," he added.
A Germanwings Airbus-320 en route from Barcelona to Duuseldorf crashed on March 24 in mountainous terrain in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, southern France. All 150 people onboard, including 144 passengers and six crew, died in the crash.