Victim families mark 1 year since doomed Germanwings flight

LE VERNET, France (AP) — In a solemn day of remembrance, grieving families gathered in a French Alpine village to pay homage to loved ones a year after the co-pilot of a Germanwings plane flew the passenger jet into a mountainside, killing all 150 people aboard.

The Airbus A320 was en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf when co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked the pilot out of the cockpit and thrust the aircraft into an accelerated dive.

A spokesman for Duesseldorf prosecutors confirmed Thursday that several doctors had refused to make statements to police following the crash, citing their right under German law to safeguard their patient's confidentiality even after death.

[...] Christoph Kumpa told The Associated Press that "knowledge gaps ... aren't expected, as in all cases the patient files were seized under judges' orders independently of any willingness (by doctors) to testify."

Some families of British and German victims plan to take legal action against the Arizona flight school, where Lufthansa trains commercial pilots, alleging Lubitz should have been prevented from qualifying, the Britain-based Irwin Mitchell law firm said in a statement this week.