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'Co-pilots eyesight was failing'

'Co-pilots eyesight was failing'

The eyesight of a Germanwings co-pilot blamed for the downing of an A320 in the French Alps was reportedly failing.

French media say Andreas Lubitz sought treatment for his vision problems and had been hospitalised in the past month.

His eyesight was reportedly down “30 per cent" and he feared it could ruin his career.


The revelations come after Lubitz father spoke for the first time since the tragedy, which left 150 people dead.

He told the mayor of Prads-Haute-Bléone, a town located close to the crash site, that he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Mayor Bernard Bartolini, who met the father at a local vigil held for victims, told French media that the father was a broken man.

“He was distraught with grief. He was a completely broken man who is carrying all the responsibility of this drama on his back,” Bartolini said.

A French investigator said the personality of a co-pilot is a "serious lead" in the inquiry, but not the only one.

"We have a certain number of elements which allow us to make progress on this lead, which is a serious lead but which can't be the only one," police chief Jean-Pierre Michel told AFP in the western German city of Duesseldorf.

The investigation so far has not turned up a "particular element" in the life of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz which could explain his alleged action in the ill-fated Airbus plane, he added.

The black box voice recorder indicates that Lubitz, 27, locked his captain out of the cockpit of the Germanwings jet and deliberately flew Flight 4U 9525 into a mountainside, French officials said.


German prosecutors believe Lubitz hid an illness from his airline.

They said Friday that searches of his homes netted "medical documents that suggest an existing illness and appropriate medical treatment", including "torn-up and current sick leave notes, among them one covering the day of the crash".

They did not specify the illness but media reports say he was severely depressed.

The French investigator is part of a three-strong team which has travelled to Duesseldorf to cooperate with German authorities.

"We're going to try to understand what in his life could have led him to the carrying out of the act," Michel said.

Morning news break – March 29