Six families of Germanwings victims to sue

The amount of compensation requested by the victims' familiwes was not disclosed, but a lawyer for the families from Spain, Paraguay and Britain called the amounts that had been offered to date "insulting."

The relatives have reportedly demanded a doubling of a 25,000 euro ($27,160) per victim compensation offer, according to an article in "The Irish Times."

A number of families have already settled their claims with the airline.

Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately steered the Airbus A320 into a mountain en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf on March 24, 2015, the official investigation report found. 

"The system failed and allowed an unqualified person to control a plane with 140 passengers on board," said a spokesperson for the six families, Narcis Motje, who lost his son Jordi, 37, in the crash. A further ten people who died in the crash were Germanwings staff.

"We want the whole truth and all those responsible to be investigated, so that something like this never happens again," Motje said.

On Friday the father of Lubitz claimed his son had not been depressed at the time of the disaster and said he has doubts that his son deliberately crashed the plane. Victims' families have criticized the timing of his announcement, as it fell on the two-year anniversary of the disaster.

Prosecutors had concluded that Lubitz was struggling with depression at the time and bore sole responsibility for the tragedy. They believe the 27-year-old locked the captain out of the cockpit of the Airbus A320 from Barcelona to Düsseldorf before changing the flight's course.

jbh/gsw (dpa)