Victims of Germanwings disaster remembered at somber service

Grieving relatives joined political and religious leaders on Friday for a somber German state memorial service for the 150 victims of last month's Germanwings crash in the French Alps.

The ecumenical service at Cologne's historic cathedral was attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck, along with officials from France and Spain. At the front of the altar 150 candles were lit, one for each person killed.

Flags flew at half-staff nationwide and a white flag emblazoned with a black cross hung outside the cathedral.

Gauck said the nation was still in "enormous shock" over the March 24 crash.

"Since this day, nothing has been what it was for these families and friends" of the victims, he said. "Something was destroyed that can never be healed again in this world."

The service was broadcast live on screens outside the cathedral and to viewers nationwide as Germany observed a day of mourning.

The archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, and the head of the Protestant Church of Westphalia, Annette Kurschus, led the service.

"So many tears have been shed in the last weeks," Kurschus told those assembled.

"It is good when we can weep with each other, and for each other."

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who had been diagnosed as suicidal in the past, is believed to have intentionally flown the plane into the mountainside after locking the pilot out of the cockpit.

He was receiving treatment from neurologists and psychiatrists who had signed him off sick from work a number of times, including the day of the crash.

Aviation industry doctors have since demanded that German pilots undergo more extensive medical checks, while several airlines worldwide have changed rules to require two crew in cockpits at all times.

Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Carsten Spohr, a former pilot, attended the ceremony with three executives of its low-cost subsidiary Germanwings.

Spohr, who is grappling with a heavy blow to the airline's image, asked Lufthansa pilots in attendance not to wear their uniforms to the ceremony out of respect for the victims.

Ursula Mund, 53, said Germans were still "baffled" by the Flight 9525 tragedy.

"We are still saddened and I feel very moved today," she said.

Michael Senker, 62, said the country shared in the relatives' suffering. "We all feel touched by this horrible catastrophe," he said.

AFP - AP