Germanwings Co-Pilot Deliberately Crashed plane

The co-pilot of the Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps, named as Andreas Lubitz, appeared to want to "destroy the plane", officials said.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin, citing information from the "black box" voice recorder, said the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit.

He intentionally started a descent while the pilot was locked out.

Mr Robin said there was "absolute silence in the cockpit" as the pilot fought to re-enter it.

Meanwhile, the head of Lufthansa, the German carrier that owns Germanwings, said the pilot had undergone intensive training and "was 100% fit to fly without any caveats".

"We have no findings at all about what motivated the pilot to do this terrible deed," Carsten Spohr said.

Mr Spohr said Mr Lubitz's training had been interrupted briefly six years ago but was resumed after "the suitability of the candidate was re-established"

Mr Robin said air traffic controllers made repeated attempts to contact the aircraft, but to no available.

Passengers could be heard screaming just before the crash, he added.