Germanwings plane crash: Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz wanted to 'do something people would remember him for'

The co-pilot's ex-girlfriend said he told her last year: 'One day I will do something that will change the whole system, and then all will know my name'

Andreas Lubitz runs the Airportrace half marathon in Hamburg on 13 September 2009 (Reuters)

The investigation into the causes of the Germanwings crash in the French Alps on Tuesday continues. Here are the latest news updates:

• Andreas Lubitz may have been seeking treatment for eyesight problems
• 'People all over the world will know my name,' Andreas Lubitz told former girlfriend
• Andreas Lubitz 'obsessed' with French Alps and 'knew region well'
• Lufthansa could have to pay out 'unlimited compensation' to families
• ‘Murder-suicide’ cannot be explained as depression, say experts
• French police recover hundreds of pieces of human remains
• Lufthansa and all of its subsidaries introduce two person cockpit rule
• Andreas Lubitz should have been on leave and hid illness from employers
• What we know about co-pilot who downed plane with 150 on board
• Germanwings crash was second-deadliest pilot suicide in history

Please wait a moment for the live blog to load

French prosecutors said evidence including audio from the cockpit voice recorder shows that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed the Germanwings plane into the French Alps, killing 149 people.

He had locked the captain out of the Airbus A320's cockpit when he left for a toilet break and re-set the aircraft's autopilot to descend rapidly from cruising altitude to just 100ft, officials said.

A picture is gradually emerging of a 27-year-old who some people knew as a completely normal person but others, like his former girlfriend, were concerned for.

Police discovered torn up sick notes at his former home yesterday indicating he hid an unspecified illness from his employers and was signed off work on the day of the crash.

Friends said he had to take a break of several months in his flight training six years ago because of a "serious depressive episode".

The recovery operation in the Alps continues today, with workers trying to identify human remains and return the victims to their families for burial.

Relatives of the passengers, who included three Britons, have gathered for a church service and as Germanwings parent company Lufthansa said it would offer immediate aid of up to 50,000 euros (£36,500) per passenger to the families of those who died.