Lufthansa was made aware several years ago that the co-pilot who crashed the Germanwings plane into the French Alps last week had suffered from severe depression, the airline said in a statement Tuesday.
Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, confirmed that Andreas Lubitz had taken a break for several months during his training and when he returned in 2009, he submitted forms about a “previous episode of severe depression,” ABC News reported.
Still, Lubitz went on to receive “the medical certificate confirming his fitness to fly” and was hired as a co-pilot for Germanwings, ABC News reported.
Lufthansa said Lubitz, 27, had a “fully valid class 1 medical certificate” at the time of the fatal flight last Tuesday, ABC News reported.
Authorities say Lubitz locked the flight’s captain out of the cockpit and proceeded to crash the plane, killing all 150 on board. French prosecutors said he had been treated for “suicidal tendencies.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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