Germanwings 9525 crash: Last email sent by suicidal co-pilot Andreas Lubitz reveals depression and fear of going blind
The last email sent by Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz reveals his fear of going blind. Lubitz, 27, killed all 149 crew and passengers of Germanwings Flight 9525 in 2015 when he deliberately crashed the aircraft into the French Alps.
The suicidal pilot sent an email to his doctor a couple of weeks before he crashed the Airbus 320-211. In the email, obtained by German newspaper Bild, he detailed his depression over losing his sight, saying he was afraid to go blind.
“I am afraid to go blind and I can’t get this possibility out of my head,” he wrote in German, which has been translated in English by the media online. “If it wasn’t for the eyes, everything would be fine.”
He apparently added in the email that he was taking the highest dosage of the anti-depressant drug Mirtazapine, which is also used to induce sleep.
After the crash, it was learnt that Lubitz consulted dozens of doctors about his health. He also previously tried to commit suicide. German investigators found evidence at his home in Montabaur that he destroyed notes from his doctors advising him to take a vacation from work. He also researched different suicide methods online.
The Office of Research and Analysis of France will release the final report on the crash on March 13.
Germanwings 9525 crash
Germanwings Flight 9525, a low-cost carrier operated by the German airline Lufthansa, crashed in the French Alps, 100 kilometres north-west of Nice, on March 24, 2015. All 144 passengers and six crew members were killed. It was headed to Dusseldorf from Barcelona. It was found out shortly that the crash was deliberate, caused by Lubitz, who had been declared “unfit to work” by a physician.
According to the investigation, Lubitz was left temporarily in charge of the cockpit when the commanding pilot took a toilet break. While he was alone, he manipulated the flight monitoring system and activated the descent. The pilot, who was returning to the cockpit after a few minutes, was unable to re-enter the compartment. He pleaded with Lubitz to let him enter, but Lubitz remained silent. The pilot switched from begging to demanding, violently knocking on the cockpit door to ask for the door to be opened. The voice recording in the aircraft revealed that the co-pilot was conscious, as determined by his steady and calm breathing.
French prosecutor Brice Robin told reporters a few days after the crash that Lubitz’s manipulation of the monitoring system could only be classified as deliberate. The passengers were believed to be unaware of the commotion in the cockpit until the very last moment. Their death was immediate upon the plane’s crash.
Most of the passengers were German and Spanish citizens. Two were Australians.
