FRANCE-CRASH/MONTABAUR-BURGER KING Germanwings co-pilot was former Burger King employee - report
Record ID:
383596
FRANCE-CRASH/MONTABAUR-BURGER KING Germanwings co-pilot was former Burger King employee - report
- Title: FRANCE-CRASH/MONTABAUR-BURGER KING Germanwings co-pilot was former Burger King employee - report
- Date: 29th March 2015
- Summary: MONTABAUR, GERMANY (MARCH 29, 2015) (REUTERS) BURGER KING WHERE GERMANWINGS CO-PILOT ANDREAS LUBITZ IS REPORTED TO HAVE WORKED BURGER KING SIGN RESTAURANT BURGER KING SIGN MAN ENTERING RESTAURANT VARIOUS OF BURGER KING SIGNS RESTAURANT MEDIA OUTSIDE HOUSE BELIEVED TO BELONG TO LUBITZ'S PARENTS TELEVISION VAN SATELLITE DISH ON TELEVISION VAN SECOND TELEVISION VAN VARIOUS OF CAMERAMEN ADJUSTING EQUIPMENT VARIOUS OF CAMERAMAN FILMING HOUSE POLICE CAR PARKED OUTSIDE HOUSE CAMERAMAN FILMING HOUSE
- Embargoed: 13th April 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVABSCE25R7D4O15QJ3JR4XKUI52
- Story Text: It was business as usual on Sunday (March 29), at a Burger King restaurant near the German town of Montabaur, where media reports suggest Andreas Lubitz, a Germanwings co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing an Airbus into the French Alps and killing all 150 people on board, was previously employed.
Media reports say that Lubitz worked at the restaurant before joining Lufthansa, the parent company of the budget airline, but he "abruptly" returned to his hometown after suspending his flight training.
It's not clear whether he returned to work at Burger King during that time.
Germany's Bild newspaper, citing internal documents forwarded by Lufthansa's Aero Medical Center to German authorities, reported that Lubitz had suffered a "serious depressive episode" around the time he suspended his pilot training in 2009.
It said he subsequently spent over a year in psychiatric treatment.
On a grey, rainy day in Lubitz's hometown in north-west Germany, the fast food outlet on the outskirts of the town was open as normal, while a few miles away journalists and police kept their post at a house which is believed to belong to Lubitz's parents.
German authorities were at loss to explain why the first officer for Lufthansa's budget carrier appeared to have taken sole control of the A320 airliner when the captain was out of the cockpit and slammed it into a fatal descent.
He may have been suffering from a detached retina but investigators are unsure whether his vision problems had physical or psychological causes, German newspaper Bild am Sonntag said on Sunday.
Another German newspaper, Welt am Sonntag, quoted a senior investigator as saying 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.
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 (March 30).
The mass circulation Bild am Sonntag said investigators had found evidence that Lubitz feared losing his eyesight, apparently because of a detached retina.
However, it was unclear whether this was due to an organic failure or psychosomatic illness, when physical problems are thought to be caused or aggravated by psychological factors such as stress. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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