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Germanwings pilot Lubitz buried quietly amid investigation

By Tomas Monzon
Handout pictures dated March 26, 2015 shows members of the French national gendarmerie investigating the area after the A320 Germanwings passenger aircraft crashed in a mountain range of the French Alps. The plane heading to Dusseldorf from Barcelona with 150 people onboard was allegedly taken down by its co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, there were no survivors. File Photo by Francis Pellier/MI DICOM/UPI
1 of 2 | Handout pictures dated March 26, 2015 shows members of the French national gendarmerie investigating the area after the A320 Germanwings passenger aircraft crashed in a mountain range of the French Alps. The plane heading to Dusseldorf from Barcelona with 150 people onboard was allegedly taken down by its co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, there were no survivors. File Photo by Francis Pellier/MI DICOM/UPI | License Photo

MONTABAUR, Germany, June 30 (UPI) -- Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz, who crashed a plane into the French Alps in March, was buried Monday in Germany.

Lubitz had a quiet burial in his hometown of Montabaur attended by his parents. It is unknown whether his fiancee with whom he lived with was present at the ceremony.

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The burial was covered by the local German newspaper, Rhein-Zeitung, with a single line of text.

Lubitz purposely crashed an Airbus A320 passenger aircraft into the French Alps at 430mph on March 24. After locking the plane's pilot out of the cockpit, co-pilot Lubitz crashed the plane into the mountainside and took the lives of 149 passengers and crew members, with no survivors remaining.

Following the tragedy, it was discovered that Lubitz had been dealing with depression for years prior to the incident, consuming large amounts of anti-depressant drugs and conferring with various doctors about his condition.

News of Lubitz' burial comes as a French investigation into whether Lubitz' mental state was accurately assessed continues. Manslaughter charges may be given if evidence of improper assessments arises.

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Lubitz had been given leave for unspecified medical reasons two weeks before the incident, with ripped up letters found at Lubitz' home suggesting that the pilot wanted to keep his condition secret from employers.

Lubitz had taken a break from flight training in 2009, when he was already dealing with severe depression. He had also been treated for suicidal tendencies in the past but doctors' visits closer to the date of the flight did not corroborate these tendencies.

Victims of the flight were urged by Germanwing's parent company Lufthansa to solicit the German government for compensation, which was criticized by one lawyer as being indicative of the company's cluelessness in helping the victims of the crash.

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