'Everyone will know my name'

Co-pilot who was alone in cockpit may have had a detached retina

The co-pilot suspected of intentionally crashing a Germanwings A320 Airbus on Tuesday in the southern French Alps may have been suffering from a detached retina, but investigators are unsure whether his vision problems had physical or psychological causes, a German newspaper said on Sunday.

Bild am Sonntag also reported how the pilot of the Germanwings Airbus screamed "Open the damn door!" to the co-pilot as the pilot tried to get back into the locked cockpit before the jet crashed, killing all 150 aboard.

Another German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, quoted a senior investigator as saying 27-year-old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz "was treated by several neurologists and psychiatrists", adding that a number of medications had been found in his apartment in the German city of Duesseldorf.

Police also discovered personal notes that showed Lubitz suffered from "severe subjective overstress symptoms", he added.

Lufthansa, the parent company of the budget airline, said the carrier was unaware of a psychosomatic or any other illness affecting Lubitz.

A spokesman for state prosecutors in Duesseldorf declined to comment on Sunday on the various media reports, adding there would be no official statement before Monday.

Also on Sunday, one of the lead investigators said forensic teams have isolated 78 distinct DNA strands from body parts recovered from the crash site. Prosecutor Brice Robin added that an access road was being built for all-terrain vehicles to reach the site where 150 people died.

The road will help with the removal of large parts of the plane, and could be completed by Monday night, Robin said.

Sunday's reports followed a report in Bild on Saturday that Lubitz had told his then-girlfriend last year that he was planning to take a striking move so "everyone will know my name and remember it".

A woman who claimed to have had a relationship with Lubitz told Bild that when she heard about the crash, she remembered that Lubitz had said, "One day I'll do something" and "Everyone will know my name and remember it."

The former girlfriend, a flight attendant, said Lubitz, 27, was in psychiatric treatment and would become upset when talking about working conditions.

Lubitz was fearful that he might lose the job due to his health problems, she said.

Reuters - Xinhua - AP - AFP

(China Daily 03/30/2015 page12)