Lufthansa 'under no obligation' to report co-pilot's condition

Lufthansa has indicated that it was under no obligation to report the fact that Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz has suffered from depression to Germany's national aviation authority.

Yesterday German newspaper Welt am Sonntag quoted the Federal Aviation Office as saying that it was not informed about Lubitz's previous depression before Flight 4U 9525 crashed.

Lufthansa said in a statement today that, under a regulation that came into effect in April 2013, there are different rules on informing the aviation office about "certain medical issues".

It added, however, that a provision in the regulation "safeguards the position of certain pre-existing certificates of airworthiness for pilots and certificates of medical aviation medical experts" and that doctors can continue to issue extensions to such documents.

A second black box recovered from the Germanwings crash site yesterday has revealed that copilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately increased the plane's speed several times in the minutes before the crash.

Investigators believe once the pilot was locked out of the cockpit Lubitz accelerated repeatedly as he set the plane to automatic and began its final descent.

ITV News correspondent Richard Pallot has the latest report:

France BEA's aviation investigators said a second black box recovered from the Germanwings crash site indicated that the copilot deliberately crashed the airplane.

"A first reading shows that the pilot in the cockpit used the automatic pilot to put the airplane on a descent towards an altitude of 100 feet," the BEA investigation office said in a statement.

"Then several times the pilot modified the automatic pilot settings to increase the speed of the airplane as it descended," it added.

Audio evidence from the first black box appeared to suggest that the captain was deliberately locked out of the cockpit by the co-pilot, who then deliberately took the plane into a descent.

The French prosecutor has said there is "reasonable hope" that the second black box recovered from the wreckage of the crashed Germanwings plane can be useful, despite the damage it suffered.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin added that 150 sets of DNA had been found at the crash site in the Alps - the same number people on board the Airbus, which came down last week, though he stressed that did not necessarily mean all the victims had been found.

Families will be informed every time a DNA is matched to a victim, he said.

A computer taken from the Germanwings co-pilot's home shows searches for methods of committing suicide were made in the days leading up to the crash, according to the German state prosecutors' office.

Andreas Lubitz's computer also showed searches on cockpit doors and their safety precautions.

The second black box from the Germanwings crash has been found, Agence France-Presse reports.

The final human remains from the wreckage of the Germanwings plane crash have been recovered today, according to reports.

The Associated Press reported that Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Marc Menichini, who has been involved in the recovery operation, had confirmed "there are no longer any visible remains" at the crash site.

Forensic experts will now begin the task of trying to match the remains with DNA profiles from the 150 people killed in the crash.

A French journalist has spoken tonight of how he has seen a recording of the final moments of the fatal Germanwings flight that crashed in the Alps.

Olivier Royant, editor of Paris Match magazine, described "people screaming" in different languages in the video, apparently contained on a SIM card recovered from the wreckage of the plane.

ITV News' Paul Davies reports:

A 15-second mobile phone video reportedly captured by one of the passengers killed in the Germanwings plane crash in the Alps reveals the last moments of terror for those on board.

Olivier Royant, editor of Paris Match magazine, is among those who have seen the clip, apparently contained on a SIM card recovered from the wreckage of the plane.

Dismissing claims that it is a fake, Mr Royant told ITV News the clip appears to confirm details released from the cockpit voice recorder - and said it is clear the passengers knew something was wrong.

He described how metallic banging can be heard on the clip - presumably the captain of the plane's attempts to break back in to the cockpit after being locked out by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.