Germanwings co-pilot was on sick leave on crash day: Prosecutors (Roundup)

The prosecution of Germany's Dusseldorf city announced on Friday that the co-pilot, who allegedly crashed the Germanwings plane into the southern French Alps deliberately, killing all 150 on board, had a medical leave note for the day of the flight, which he hid from the company.

The sick leave note was found during a search of the co-pilot's home, torn to bits among other documents, implicating mental illness and proving that he had been receiving medical treatment, Efe news agency reported.

Prosecution sources denied that a suicide note was found in the search, or that any information was found indicating his "political or a religious backgrounds".

In a statement, the Dusseldorf prosecution explained that the torn-up medical leave notes were found in the co-pilot's home, one of which was issued for the day of the Germanwings crash, considered by the prosecution as proof that he hid his illness from his company and his employers.

Reports have clarified that it was known that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had prematurely dropped out of his training for a few months in 2009, triggering speculations that he may have been suffering from depression at that time.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr confirmed on Thursday that Lubitz broke off his training with the company for a relatively long period.

Lubitz, who allegedly crashed the Germanwings Airbus A320 plane en route from Barcelona in Spain to Dusseldorf in Germany with 150 people on board in Tuesday, began his flying apprenticeship at age 14 at a local aviation institution, and joined the Lufthansa Flight Training school in Bremen in 2007.

In 2009, he interrupted his training for a few months, which he later resumed and completed before joining the low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa, Germanwings, in 2013.

Spohr confirmed on Thursday that upon resumption of his training, Lubitz passed the most rigorous tests, both physical and mental.

Lubitz's home in Dusseldorf was searched on Thursday, as well as his family's home in the German state of Rhineland Palatinate, where many items were seized, including a computer and other personal items, but so far no official information has been provided about the findings.

Earlier on Friday, a spokesman of Lufthansa, the parent company of Germanwings, told Xinhua news agency the co-pilot had passed all Lufthansa tests but declined to comment on his mental condition.

As the company was unable to access the co-pilot's clinical data that has been reported by the media, Lufthansa spokesman said the airline had no comment to offer on those media reports.

Lufthansa, however, announced it will implement a regulation to ensure that at least two crew members remain in the cockpit at all times, given that co-pilot Lubitz had apparently initiated the plane's descent after locking the captain, who had left to use the restroom, out of the cockpit.

According to information from the German Air Traffic Control Union, the regulation, a standard procedure on intercontinental flights, is being prepared for immediate adoption.

Meanwhile, French authorities continued the recovery operation for the fourth day on Friday, using helicopters from the base of Seyne-les-Alpes to reach the crash site on the steep mountain slope, Efe reported.

The current priority of the investigators is to find the second black box in the hope that it will further clarify the sequence of events in the cockpit. The first box, found within a few hours of the disaster, revealed that the co-pilot may have intentionally crashed the plane, keeping the captain locked out of the cockpit.

Forensic experts will also continue searching the mountains for the mortal remains of the victims, which are then transferred to a centre in Seyne-les-Alpes for identification, using DNA samples of the victims' families who arrived at the crash site on Thursday.

French interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet said the repatriation of the bodies, mainly to Germany and Spain, would take time and cannot be carried out until they have recovered and identified all.