Investigators say Germanwings co-pilot had suicidal tendencies

BERLIN - The Germanwings co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing a plane in the French Alps last week had been treated in the past for suicidal tendencies, German state prosecutors said on Monday.

"Several years ago before obtaining his pilot's licence the co-pilot was in a long period of psychotherapeutic treatment with noticeable suicidal tendencies," the prosecutors' office in Duesseldorf, where the pilot lived and where the flight from Barcelona was heading, said in the statement.

The prosecutors' office added that since then he had not shown any signs of suicidal behaviour nor aggressive tendencies towards others in visits to doctors.