Police have searched the homes of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz in two German cities in search of an explanation for why he may have crashed a passenger plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.

German tabloid Bild reported Friday that Lubitz had a "serious depressive episode" six years ago and that a medical problem was noted in aviation records.

The Federal Aviation Office couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

French investigators believe the 27-year-old locked himself inside the cockpit and then intentionally smashed the Germanwings plane into a mountainside.

A spokeswoman for Duesseldorf police, Susanna Heusgen, said "no crucial piece of evidence has been found yet" after the searches in Duesseldorf and Montabaur.

Duesseldorf prosecutors say they plan to release an update later Friday.

Germanwings sets up family assistance center

Germanwings says it is setting up a family assistance center in Marseille for relatives of the 150 people killed when one of its planes crashed in the French Alps.

Investigators believe Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally crashed the plane into a mountainside during Tuesday's flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.

Germanwings spokesman Thomas Winkelmann said in a statement that "in these dark hours our full attention belongs to the emotional support of the relatives and friends of the victims of Flight 9525."

The airline, a subsidiary of German carrier Lufthansa, says some grieving relatives took part in a religious service Thursday afternoon near the crash site.

 

Minute by minute, the demise of doomed German flight

Here is a look at the short journey and violent end of the German budget airline flight that crashed into the French Alps with 150 people aboard, based on information from French accident investigators, government officials and the airline Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa:

Times listed are Central Europe Time

Monday, March 23

The plane, a Germanwings Airbus A320, undergoes a routine safety check at Duesseldorf Airport.

Tuesday March 24

8:57 a.m.

The 24-year-old A320 single-aisle jet arrives in Barcelona from Duesseldorf.

10:01 a.m.

Germanwings Flight 9525 takes off from Barcelona, slightly delayed because of airport congestion, for the return trip to Duesseldorf, about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) away.

Aboard were 144 passengers, two pilots and four cabin staff. Among them: babies, a group of German high-school students, an American contractor and her daughter, three generations of the same family.

10:30 a.m.

The pilots make their last contact with air traffic control in a routine message seeking and obtaining permission to continue course. At the time, the aircraft had reached its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet, and was over the Mediterranean Sea approaching the region around Marseille.

10:31 a.m.

The plane begins its unexplained descent above the French coast, just as its flight path crosses over land.

10:35 a.m.

Air traffic controllers try to contact the pilots, but receive no response.

10:40 a.m.

The last radar position of the plane is registered, at 6,175 feet - only slightly higher than the peaks of the southern French Alps below. The French Air Force sends a Mirage fighter jet to the plane's last known location. An air force official says the Mirage arrived too late to help, and never crossed paths with the A320.

About 12 noon

Rescuers in helicopters spot the debris, scattered across a ravine and the slopes of the Col de Mariaud. Amid the pulverized remains, there were no survivors.