Andreas Lubitz: first picture of Germanwings co-pilot's father emerges

The first picture of the distraught father of rogue pilot Andreas Lubitz has emerged a week after he ploughed his Germanwings Airbus into the French Alps, killing himself and 149 others on board.

As investigations continue into what led their son to lock the flight's first officer out of the cockpit, before deliberately engaging the descent mechanism and smashing into the mountainside near the village of Seyne-les-Alpes, more details have begun to emerge about Lubitz's parents Gunter and Ursula.

One photograph, taken in March 2010, shows Mr Lubitz Snr taking part alongside his son in the Frankfurt half-marathon, an event sponsored by Germanwings's parent company Lufthansa.

Mr Lubitz, wearing bib number 4409, finished in one hour and 56 minutes, 22 minutes behind his son – number 4408 – who came in at one hour and 34.

Mr Lubitz Snr, a banker, took part in at least four races with his son – a keen marathon runner – between June 2009 and March 2010.

Lubitz's mother Ursula is well known as a local piano teacher and regularly played the organ at church services and concerts in the family's home town of Montabaur, an hour from Frankfurt.

^{A couple, 2nd and 3rd left, thought to be Andreas Lubitz's parents, arrive at Le Vernet commemorative chapel GREGORY WALTON}

The young Andreas Lubitz and his parents reportedly lived with his maternal grandfather, 87, a retired paediatrician, and his grandmother, 84, a retired primary schoolteacher, in Neuburg, Bavaria, until moving to a spacious home in an affluent suburb of Montabaur when he was six. The grandparents, who migrated from Romania to Germany in the 1970s, moved to Montabaur in November last year.

Neighbours in Neuburg described Lubitz, who would frequently return to the town with his parents for holidays, as a "very polite and quiet" boy, who had always wanted to become a pilot. He was often seen mowing the grass at his grandparents' home or jogging with his father along the River Danube.

His aunt, who still lives in Neuburg, said: "We never imagined anything like this to happen, we are all very shocked, but you can never see what's really going on inside a man."

Lubitz attended the Mons-Tabor-Gymnasium high school in the town, where he learnt to fly gliders with his local flying club from the age of 14, before going on to train as a commercial pilot.

His father, 60, and mother are said to be "devastated, completely shattered" by his son's decision to take his own life and those of so many innocent people.

Bernard Bartolini, the mayor of Prads-Haute-Bléone, a small town near the site of the crash, who met the co-pilot's parents when they visited the site last week, said: "He is carrying on his back the entire weight of the drama. He is a man whose life has broken down."

Mr Bartolini added: "He [the father] is a man whose life is in ruins. I felt incredibly sorry for him as he expressed all his emotion, he expressed his emotion because he has lost a loved one, but also because his son is perhaps the [cause] of all this tragedy. I have great respect for this man who despite himself is at the centre of a tragedy that he did not seek."

The picture emerged as a video purportedly showing the final seconds inside the cabin of the ill-fated Germanwings airliner minutes before it crashed was reportedly discovered, although French police denied the claims to CNN.

One sequence reportedly shows a chaotic scene with passengers screaming "My God". There are also said to be three loud metallic bangs, which could be the sound of Captain Patrick Sondheimer trying to break down the locked cockpit door.

German prosecutors confirmed on Tuesday evening that Lubitz had been treated for suicidal tendencies and that his medical files showed that he underwent a prolonged course of treatment for serious psychological problems before obtaining his pilot's licence.

The files also showed he had visited mental health specialists more recently, who had issued him with sick notes. Several of these are believed to have been found, torn-up, in a search of Lubitz's Düsseldorf flat – including one for the day of the crash.

Lubitz's parents have not spoken in public since the crash on Tuesday, March 24.

It is understood they were only told their son was suspected of having deliberately crashed the plane shortly after they arrived for a memorial service near the scene of the crash with families of the passengers and crew who died.

Mr and Mrs Lubitz were subsequently questioned by French police and are due to be interviewed by the prosecutor in the German city of Düsseldorf who is leading his country's investigation into the disaster.

Prayers have been said in Montabaur for the couple, who also have a younger son, by churchgoers who feel intensely sorry for Lubitz's parents and for the grim legacy they will now be forced to live with.

Father Blechschmidt, a priest at St Peter in Chains, the main Catholic church in the small town in western Germany, said. "We remember those who lost their lives in Germany, Spain and other countries. Our thoughts are also with all the families of the victims, with the friends, the partners and neighbours, the teachers, the classmates who grieve for the dead. We can hardly imagine what they must all endure and live through in these days.

"We also want to pray for the family of the co-pilot of the crashed plane that is affected by the current situation most dramatically and is in the public eye.

Several people have expressed their shock and grief in a book of remembrance opened at the church.

One member of the congregation wrote: "The family of the disaster-pilot lost their son, too, and has the right to grief. No one can judge here."

Another, called Felix, wrote: "What was he thinking? When I heard that the man is from Montabaur, I was shaken. Why did he do it? I hope he still goes to heaven," wrote Felix.

A couple called Vilte and Christine wrote: "We wish the victims' families and especially the parents of the co-pilot a lot of strength and God bless. May such a terrible tragedy never happen again."