Lufthansa offers immediate financial assistance to Germanwings' passenger families

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Andreas Lubitz tore up a sick note on the morning of the doomed flight
German prosecutors have found evidence questioning his mental health
Relatives could sue Germanwings over their failure to spot Lubitz's illness
Lubitz commanded the jet's autopilot to fly into the Alps at 400mph

By Hannah Parry and Darren Boyle for MailOnline and Peter Allen In Paris

Published: 00:07 EST, 27 March 2015 | Updated: 17:28 EST, 27 March 2015

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Relatives of those killed on the Germanwings flight have been offered up to £40,000 from Lufthansa immediately, amid speculation they could receive multi-million pound compensation settlements eventually.

The German airline, which owns the budget carrier, offered to pay up to 50,000 euros per passenger, for immediate financial assistance.

However, the relatives could receive multi-million pound compensation settlements if they can prove that Lufthansa knew about the co-pilot's mental health difficulties.

Sicknotes found at Andreas Lubitz's apartment in Dusseldorf by German police could form a key part of any legal case launched by the families.

Legal experts claim that the level of awareness the passengers had in advance of the crash would also influence any compensation payments.

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German president Joachim Gauck, left, joined relatives at a public mourning service in Haltern

Friends of 16 students killed in Tuesday's disaster hugged each other outside the emotional memorial service

Andreas Lubitz, pictured, is believed to have hidden a mental health illness from his employers

German newspaper Bild reported that Lufthansa's Aeromedical Centre has passed internal documents to investigating authorities which claimed that Lubitz suffered from depression and anxiety during training and went through a 'serious depressive episode'.

Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, has so far refused to comment on whether they had any concerns over Lubitz's mental health.

Ordinarily, the families of air disasters are entitled to a maximum of around £100,000 under international agreements. But if a family decides to sue, this figure could rise dramatically depending on the degree of negligence by the airline and the level of awareness their loved ones would have had on their impending doom.

As well as looking at Lubitz, lawyers for the families could question the airline's policy of not requiring at least two crew on the flight deck at all times once the aircraft is airborne.

Relatives of some of Tuesday's victims have reacted angrily to the discovery of the torn up sick note and questions over Lubitz's mental health.

Lufthansa CEO Spohr says co-pilot had break in training

Lufthansa's Chief Executive Carsten Spohr refused to respond to questions about Lubitz's mental health

Christian Driessens, whose 59-year-old brother, Claude, died in the crash said: 'When you first learn that, you don’t believe it, we try to tell ourselves that it’s not possible.

'Looking back, I slowly start to be angry. I don’t understand how a serious company can let a depressed man pilot a plane.

‘Because the boy was depressed, it was necessary to say he was. On this point I am opposed to the company not having introduced rules saying there must always be two people in the cockpit.

‘I’ve fallen over backwards. It’s not normal to leave somebody by himself in charge, and who shuts the doors, I’m very angry.'

Passengers would have been soon aware of captain Patrick Sonderheimer's attempts to break into his own cockpit after Lubitz deliberately locked him outside.

Lubitz enabled a post-911 safety system designed to stop hijacking to bolt the cockpit door shut.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Carsten Spohr admitted yesterday that Lubitz had broken off his training in 2008 for several months, however, he refused to elaborate on the details.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, second right, said the airline should release all information on Lubitz

The latest revelations come as air crash investigators continue to search for the second 'black box'

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the airline must hand over all information they have on Lubitz to investigators.

Mr Valls held a crisis meeting this morning where Tuesday's disaster was the main item on the agenda.

He told iTELE: 'We must wait for the end of the inquiry. I am careful when there is a judicial inquiry, but everything points to a criminal, mad, suicidal action that we cannot comprehend.

'It is up to this company to provide a maximum of information so that we can understand why this pilot committed this dreadful act.'

Air crash investigators confirmed that Lubitz, 28, programmed the Airbus A-320's autopilot to descend from 38,000 to just 100 feet, while the aircraft crossing the French coast towards the Alps, after his captain Patrick Sonderheimer left the flight deck to go to the toilet.

However, French pilots' union SNPL said it is suing prosecutors who leaked information on ongoing developments in the case to the press.

Pilots fear that they will lose the public's confidence after it emerged that Lubitz deliberately flew into a mountain.

Hundreds of students from the Joseph-Koenig Gymnasium school arrived at a memorials service today

Guillaume Schmid of France's SNPL union told The Associated Press on Friday that the lawsuit is over violating a French law on keeping information about investigations secret while they are ongoing.

The lawsuit doesn't name an alleged perpetrator, a method in French law that leaves investigators to determine who is at fault.

Mr Schmid said: 'We can understand there is a certain pressure, a wish to know.'

He warned that leaking information too early can mislead the public instead of informing accurately.

European Cockpit Association also expressed concern about the leaks and urged further investigation before drawing final conclusions.

In a statement, the ECA said: 'Our thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. As trusted professionals, who invest a lifelong career in making air travel safe, this is a very difficult day for us.'

Relatives of the victims have been all asked to give DNA samples in an effort to identify their loved ones who died in the crash.

Lubitz, from Montabaur in western Germany learned to fly gliders in his teens before starting work with Germanwings in September 2013.

Police leave Andreas Lubitz's flat after conducting search

Klaus Radke, head of the flying club said: 'I got to know him, or I should say reacquainted with him, as a very nice, fun and polite young man.'

However, one friend said he used to go to movies and clubs together, but had noticed a considerable change over the past twelve months.

The friend said: 'Flying was his life. He always used to be a quiet companion, but in the last year that got worse.'

Randy Knipping, a Toronto-based specialist in aviation medicine, said it was extremely difficult to conduct screening for psychiatric problems among pilots, in part because they can put their careers in jeopardy by admitting to such problems.

He said: 'If somebody wants to withhold or conceal, there's no reasonable test.'

Mr Knipping said unless a family member comes forward and reports their concerns, then it is possible for cases such as Lubitz to 'slip through'.

Meanwhile, the grieving family and friends of the 150 people on board Germanwings Flight 9525 when it crashed leaving no survivors on Tuesday have placed touching tributes to their loved ones at a memorial.

Photographs, flowers and candles have been left at the new monument, installed by French authorities in front the mountain where the plane crashed in Le Vernet to honour the victims. Special flights had been laid on for the next of kin to allow them to visit the crash site in the French Alps.

Tributes have been left at a new monument, in front the mountain where the plane crashed in Le Vernet

French authorities have already installed a large memorial stone at the site of the disaster

Relatives placed candles featuring photographs of some of the victims at the scene of the crash

Others put simple passport-style photographs on white roses in a moving tribute

The plane was carrying six crew and 144 passengers, including 16 German teenagers returning home from a school trip, who had reportedly won the trip in a lottery of their classmates.

It was the deadliest air crash on the French mainland since 1974 when a Turkish Airlines plane crashed, killing 346 people.

Lufthansa said the aircraft was carrying citizens of 18 countries. Three Americans and three Britons were confirmed among the victims.

They included Julian Pracz-Bandres, from Manchester, who was just seven months old, was flying back from Spain with his mother, Marina Bandres, when the disaster unfolded.

Germanwings Flight 9525 was deliberately crashed on Tuesday while on its way from Barcelona to Düsseldorf

The plane was carrying six crew and 144 passengers, including 16 German teenagers on a school trip

Relatives and friends have surrounded a new monument to the victims of the disaster with flowers

Lufthansa said the aircraft was carrying citizens of 18 countries. Three Americans and three Britons were confirmed among the victims

Klaus Radke, pictured, who knew Lubitz as a teenager said he was 'a very nice and polite young man'

Families of crash victims arrive at memorial in the Alps

Recordings from the plane's black box, found on Wednesday, reveal that co-pilot - 28-year-old German Andreas Lubitz - locked the captain out of the cockpit and intentionally destroyed the aircraft.

French prosecutors revealed that the chilling screams of passengers could be heard just seconds before the doomed flight smashed into a mountain,

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said: 'The intention was to destroy the plane. Death was instant. The plane hit the mountain at 700kmh (430mph).

'I don't think that the passengers realised what was happening until the last moments because on the recording you only hear the screams in the final seconds'.

Family members Germanwings plane crash victims, pictured leaving Barcelona's El Prat airport to visit the crash site in southern France

Lufthansa, the owner of budget airline Germanwings, put on two special flights and a bus to transport families of the victims, escorted by French motorcycle policemen, to Seyne-les-Alpes

In a ceremony believed to be for relatives of the deceased of the crashed Germanwings flight emergency workers hold flags of the nations of those who died

Mr Brice said that earlier in the flight Lubitz's responses, initially courteous, became 'curt' when the captain began the mid-flight briefing on the planned landing of the plane.

'There is no distress signal or Mayday signal. No answer was received despite numerous calls from the tower.'

Lubitz had just 600 hours of flying experience after joining Germanwings in 2013 straight from training.

He was, however, highly regarded, having won an award from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2013 for his outstanding flying skills.

The investigation is now a full-blown criminal inquiry.

New footage shows rescue teams combing crash site in Alps

Recordings from the flight's black box revealed that the plane had been deliberately crashed on Tuesday, killing all 150 passengers and crew members

Pilot Andreas Lubitz apparently took the controls of the Airbus A320, locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately set it veering down from cruising altitude at 3,000 feet per minute

French gendarmes and investigators are continuing to work amongst the debris of the Airbus A320 at the site of the crash, near Seyne-les-Alpes

Rescue workers recover bodies of the doomed flight's 150 victims from the crash site. Nearby French authorities have erected a monument to allow families to pay tribute to their lost next of kin