Relatives of Germanwings victims seek compensation for crash

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Candles for the 18 victims are lit at the memorial in front of the Joseph-Konig-Gymnasium, Tuesday, March 24, 2020, in Haltern am See, Germany. Five years ago on March 24, 2015, the Germanwings Airbus flight number 4U9525 crashed on a mountain in the Alps and all 150 passengers onboard died. Among the dead were 16 students and two teachers from Haltern, who came from a student exchange in Spain. (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP)

BERLIN – A court in Germany is considering demands for compensation brought against Lufthansa by eight people who lost loved ones in the crash of its budget airline Germanwings five years ago.

The plaintiffs want a higher payout than Lufthansa and its U.S.-based flight school have offered, arguing that they allowed pilot Andreas Lubitz to complete his aviation training despite evidence of mental illness.

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Officials in France and Germany concluded that Lubitz intentionally crashed the Airbus A320 into a French mountainside on March 24, 2015, killing all 150 people on board flight 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.

The trial starting Wednesday before the court in the western city of Essen is expected to last several days.