Cologne, Germany: Grieving relatives joined political and religious leaders Friday at a sombre German memorial service for the victims of last month's Germanwings crash in the French Alps, blamed on a depressed co-pilot.
Flags flew at half-mast nationwide for the 150 dead during the ecumenical service at Cologne's historic cathedral attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck along with ministers from France and Spain.
Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who had been diagnosed as suicidal in the past, is believed to have deliberately 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.
Gauck said the tragedy had left the country in a state of "enormous shock" and that Lubitz's alleged role only compounded the suffering of the victims' families.
"Train drivers, ship captains and pilots must all be people we trust they bear the responsibility for the lives of many people," he said.
"If this trust in such a sensitive area is abused, it strikes us to the bone. As we heard the terrible news, we also sensed it could have been any of us."
A white flag emblazoned with a black cross hung outside the cathedral, while in front of the altar 150 candles were lit, one for each of those killed.
The service at northern Europe's largest Gothic church was broadcast live on screens outside the cathedral
