Spanish Germanwings Bodies Repatriated
The bodies of 32 Spanish victims of the Germanwings flight that crashed into the French Alps in March were flown back to Spain on Monday aboard a specially fitted plane.
The MD11 transport plane, operated by Germanwings parent company Lufthansa, took off from the southern French city of Marseille en route to Barcelona at 4:00pm local time (1400 GMT).
"The firm's aim is to be able to repatriate all the bodies by the end of the month," said a Lufthansa representative on the scene.
Last week, a similar flight carried home 44 German victims of the crash which was deliberately initiated by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.
In total, all 150 people aboard the ill-fated Barcelona to Duesseldorf flight died, including 72 Germans and 52 Spaniards.
On Thursday, the French prosecutor leading the investigation into the disaster said he had opened up a probe to see if anyone could be held liable for manslaughter.
Lubitz, whom prosecutors said suffered from "psychosis", saw 41 doctors over the course of five years and was terrified of losing his sight.
However the doctors he consulted -- including one who booked him off work two days before the ill-fated flight on March 24-- had not revealed his mental struggles due to doctor-patient confidentiality rules.
Source: Agence France Presse
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