The co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings flight that crashed into the French Alps seemed to "show a desire to want to destroy" the plane, the lead investigator said on Thursday.
He was named as Andreas Lubitz, and was a German citizen who was "not known by us" to have any links to terrorism or extremists, prosecutor Brice Robin told reporters, adding that German authorities were expected to provide additional information on his background and private life later Thursday or Friday.
The co-pilot "voluntarily" initiated the descent of the plane and refused to open the door to the pilot who was outside the cockpit, Robin said.
"The co-pilot is alone at the controls," added Robin, recounting information gathered from the "black box" recorder. "He voluntarily refused to open the door of the cockpit to the pilot and voluntarily began the descent of the plane."