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"The New York Times": Co-Pilot Had "Psychosonatic Problems"; Mayor: "For the Families Every Meter Is Important"; Arab Leaders To Announce Unified Military Force. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 29, 2015 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ALISON KOSIK, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: New details this morning about the mental state of the co-pilot of that downed Germanwings flight. Reports that Andreas Lubitz suffered from a severe psychosomatic illness.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Plus a scare for passengers overnight in Canada, a plane skids off the runway, taking down power lines creating widespread outage.

KOSIK: And new Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen. With the fighting intensifying, support is growing across the region for ground attacks against rebel groups.

BLACKWELL: Good morning to our viewers around the world. I'm Victor Blackwell.

KOSIK: I'm Alison Kosik in for Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: This morning, we are starting with the dramatic new developments in the crash of Flight 9525 including reports that the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, he, of course, steered this commercial jetliner into the French Alps, suffered from a severe psychosomatic illness.

KOSIK: Let's get right to Pamela Brown. She is live outside the headquarters of Germanwings in Cologne, Germany. Good morning, Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to both of you, Alison and Victor. That's right, dramatic new developments here. We are learning from "The New York Times" that Andreas Lubitz may have had vision problem and the authorities say that may be as a result of a psychosomatic illness.

And German media and other outlets are reporting that a lot of prescription drugs were found inside of his apartment authorities have been searching for days now.

I did speak to a Lufthansa spokesperson recently who said that she finds it's hard to believe that he could have had vision problems. We know that part of the annual recertification process that pilots get their vision tested. They go through rigorous testing according to this spokesperson.

I spoke to an aviation source, who said that he passed his last exam last summer, but we know since then that he has visited medical clinic here in Dusseldorf just a couple times in the past few months.

Also we are learning from German media that there may be another woman involved who lived with him. I was just at his apartment yesterday and there are two names on the door, Lubitz and Goldbalk.

Now German media is reporting that that name, that second person is actually was his live-in girlfriend who was a school teacher in Dusseldorf, a lot more to learn on that front.

We are also learning that his father, Andreas Lubitz's father, visited the French Alps yesterday. He said that he is devastated and carrying the burden of this horrific tragedy. Authorities are saying it could be weeks until the bodies of those victims are recovered. We know service road is being built.

And I want to bring in now Erin McLaughlin who is there on-site to tell us more about the efforts to allow the family members of these victims to get closer to the crash site -- Erin.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Pamela. That's right. Right now, the crash site is only accessible by air and authorities here really looking to change that. This morning, they have begun to dig a road to the crash site.

They think it will be finished in about eight days. The idea behind this road is really two folds, to help with the recovery effort and give vehicles access and the road is meant for the families to eventually be able to use it to access the crash site.

The local mayor is saying that many of the families have expressed an interest as being as close to where their loved ones died as possible. They have been peppering him with questions, they said, about what the area is like in the winter, what is it like in the summer?

And he told them that it's a little corner of paradise so every meter, every foot, every inch of this road, he says really is going to count to these families.

One of the families that say they want to visit more often is the family of Paul Bramley. He was just 28 years old, one of three British victims on board Flight 9525. His family was here yesterday. Take a listen to the statement that his father, Phillip, read out to the press.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIP BRAMLEY, VICTIM'S FATHER: What happened on the morning of the 24th of March was the act of a person at the very least who was ill. If there was a motive or a reason, we do not want to hear it. It's not relevant.

What is relevant is it should never happen again. I assume that everyone on that plane should not be forgotten ever. I don't want it to be forgotten ever. I will not get him back. I will not be able to take him home because of the nature of the impact. Me and my family will visit here forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: Philip Bramley also called for greater transparency from the airlines. He said the airlines needs to look after their pilots. He also said that he does not want the beauty of the splendor of this area to be remembered by the actions of one man, a reference to Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot accused of crashing that plane.

[06:05:10] Andreas Lubitz's family was here on Thursday and the local mayor saying it pained him to see the grief of his father coping with the knowledge, not only that his son died, but that he may have also been behind the crash. The mayor is saying that his father was shattered -- Pamela.

BROWN: Erin McLaughlin, thank you for that. There is an investigation in the French Alps and Dusseldorf, Germany into the background of that co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. Of course, we will keep you updated on any developments -- Alison and Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Pamela, thank you so much. That German newspaper, "Bild" is reporting that co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz's ex- girlfriend said he was a nice, sensitive man, but he was also troubled and had dreams that his plane was crashing.

"Bild" reporter, John Puthenpurackal, spoke to Lubitz's ex- girlfriend. He joins us on the phone from Berlin. John, first, just so we know when these observations were made by this ex-girlfriend, when were they dating and when did that relationship end?

JOHN PUTHENPURACKAL, "BILD" REPORTER (via telephone): Hello from Berlin. Actually, the relationship lasted for five months and we are talking about a time one year ago. Actually, they worked with flight on attendants and they got to know on a flight. They felt comfortable with each other and it ended up it came to a relationship.

But they kept this relationship secret because she was a little bit worried about that this relationship could -- could affect her career, you know? And actually, she told me that this relationship lasted for five months and, in the end, it was her decision to break up.

Because she felt after those months with him a little bit scared, a little bit frightened because of his spontaneous reaction. She told me about an event that he attempt to be aggressive in terms of -- especially about their job situation. Maria told me that he was, during their relationship, quite unhappy with his job situation.

BLACKWELL: Was he ever --

PUTHENPURACKAL: He -- yes?

BLACKWELL: I apologize for jumping in here. Was he ever physically abusive, did she say?

PUTHENPURACKAL: No. She never mentioned that. She only mentioned that there were some reactions she never could understand. For example, like you mentioned before, one night, he suddenly jumped up after something from a nightmare and he screamed the plane goes down, we going down, you know?

And there was another moment where he locked himself into the toilet, according to her, and be there for, I don't know, for a couple of -- no, longer, at least one hour, she told me.

BLACKWELL: An hour?

PUTHENPURACKAL: And she didn't know why he did that, yes.

BLACKWELL: So John, did he ever, according to his ex-girlfriend, share any diagnoses with her? Did she know about any specific illness or these are all just observations that she made?

PUTHENPURACKAL: No. She mentioned one time he doesn't -- he doesn't -- there was one talk she mentioned which she can remember where he actually admitted that he had medical treatment because of psychological problems, and -- but he didn't give no details on it.

But it was obvious that it seemed to be kind of depression of something and she told me that she was also kind of -- because, you know, she observed two sides of person in him.

When he was among people, he was like nice, really smart, open- minded to other people. But then there were on their own and especially when they were discussing about the job situation and about the dream, you know?

He turned to -- he turned to another person, to a different person, being more quiet, being more sensitive, you know, and I'm sure -- and she was the one who gave the support to be on the way, you know?

BLACKWELL: We have heard that from some of our medical experts that sometimes we have heard also from his family and friends that he was completely normal person in many ways and they never expected this from him. We will have this conversation about mental health as we move through the mourning. John Puthenpurackal, thank you so much for speaking with us this morning.

KOSIK: So let's learn a little bit more, let's bring in a clinical and forensic psychologist, Jeff Gardere. Good morning to you, Jeff.

[06:10:09] JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL/FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: Good morning, Alison. KOSIK: So we just heard from the "Bild" reporter telling that Lubitz's ex-girlfriend said he seemed happy but troubled. What does that say about his mental health?

GARDERE: Well, it seems to me that this is someone who was struggling to maintain his emotional sanity. We are talking about depression and a psychosomatic illness and something called a burned out syndrome which is related to an overabundance of subjective stress.

In other words, this is what he is perceiving and reacting in a very inappropriate or poor manner or dysfunctional manner of perhaps being a piloted or perhaps of interpersonal issues.

When we hear the reports about allegedly about the aggression and the anger, I think we also have to look at the probability that this was an individual for perhaps the last ten years of his life who was struggling to maintain his sanity, but was very emotionally unstable, as we see with his actions of crashing that plane.

KOSIK: Also there are reports that he suffered from a severe psychosomatic illness. What exactly does that mean?

GARDERE: Well, that means that because of the stress, he now begins to internalize a lot of his psychological conflicts and it causes all sorts of physical symptoms, but once you're examined by a physician, they don't see what the connection is between the body and those particular symptoms.

In other words, it's the mind that actually creates a lot of these physical symptoms which can be headaches, stomach aches, back aches, pain disorders, and even something that we call conversion disorder which someone, all of a sudden, perhaps may be going blind.

So that may be what may have been going on with his vision problems. We really don't know. It's speculation at this point that there was not a clear medical reason as to why he was having vision problems. They could have been as a reaction from his depression, from the anxiety, from this burn-out syndrome.

KOSIK: So what do you think? We are hearing that his employer Lufthansa and Germanwings, they were unaware of any of these issues. Do you think it's a doctor's job to tell an employer, especially an employer, for somebody who is responsible for so many lives? Is it that doctor's mission to tell an employer to communicate that, that these kinds of problems are happening?

GARDERE: Well, I believe it is. In the United States, we are mandated reporters. If we feel that someone is a threat to children sexually, if we feel that perhaps they are homicidal or suicidal, we have to breach our confidentiality and make sure they get help and that the public is protected.

My understanding is that in Germany, those mandated reporter rules are not the same thing and why perhaps this was not related to the airlines and I think we may start to see some changes in those laws, as well as the changes as to what happens with annual physicals.

Right now, it's just looking at medically what is wrong with a person, but not what is happening psychologically so I think we are going to see the rule book completely rewritten here.

KOSIK: You also may see things getting more stringent in the U.S., we can only hope. Jeff Gardere, thanks very much.

GARDERE: My pleasure.

KOSIK: Boots on the ground. We could soon see Saudi-led coalition troops in Yemen. This is new information coming out this morning as explosions ring out across the country and the crisis there hits a boiling point. We are going to have new details.

BLACKWELL: And tense moments for passengers aboard an Air Canada flight as it skids off the runway early this morning, the latest on this situation.

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KOSIK: Intense fighting between rebel and government forces continue in Yemen this morning, this, as we hear new details on Saudi troop movements.

BLACKWELL: Officials say we could see coalition fighters on the ground in Yemen within days and you see this new video here. It shows convoy carrying tanks and ammunition on a highway hiding to the Saudi/Yemeni border. And of course, this all comes after the Houthi rebels took control of the country's capital. An air force base used to battle al Qaeda which has a large presence there.

KOSIK: Meantime, overnight, leaders gathered in Egypt proposing a regional unified military force. Let's bring in CNN's Becky Anderson who is at that summit. Becky, it seems that many in the region have a line against the Houthi rebels. Is this what you're seeing?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right. It's almost unequivocally the message from here that this is the end so far as Houthi rebels are concerned. Saudi-led offensive from the air continuous to grind down the capabilities of Houthi rebels across Yemen.

There is, Alison, a very real chance that Arab boots on the ground could be deployed to further degrade the Iran-backed militia. This is a draft summary that is being threshed out by Arab leaders here and a port here, which agrees to a military force to counter regional threats in the future.

But the wording speaks specifically to what is going on Yemen, as well at the moment. Within the body of this text that is expected to be officially ratified today that allows President Hadi to request deployment of military troops to his country if there is a need by that sovereign state

Hadi slipped out of Yemen last week and turned up here at the Arab League Summit yesterday to rally for support of this that they are calling it. In an opening speech, he didn't mince his words and denouncing Houthi rebels as Iran's puppet and warning them there will be responsible for what happens next in his country.

Now he flew back to Riyadh last late night. The sense that Riyadh sort of having him in Saudi having him in Riyadh is sort of legitimatizing, continuing to legitimatize his presidency, of course.

[06:20:13] I sat down in the wee hours of this morning and asked him about how likely he agreed the addition of ground troops would be and he said it could be within days.

I said this is an almost unequivocal message of support here. They said Saudi decision go in with military assets as it were in the air at the moment with this allied force was a hasty decision.

And they went further in Baghdad they said that they believe the idea that Iran is being accused of being responsible for destabilization across this region is nonsense.

We also heard from the U.N. Secretary of General Ban Ki-Moon here, who says he still believes the political dialogue should be pursued. He said we haven't exhausted that.

And we are hearing word that talks could be set up in Oman going forward. As things stand at the moment the possibility of Arab boots on the ground in Yemen could be within days -- Alison.

KOSIK: OK, and we will keep checking back with you for new details. Becky Anderson, thanks.

So be sure to watch in our next hour as well, as we will get more analysis on potential ground troops in Yemen from Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

BLACKWELL: New information this morning about this week's explosion and fire that destroyed three New York City buildings. It seems there were warning signs that were ignored. We will talk about those also later.

An impassioned speech by a Germanwings pilot after that crash of Flight 9525, have you seen it? Well, it's gone viral and you're going to hear what this pilot said that brought the passengers to tears and you'll hear about his connection to that co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz.

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BLACKWELL: It's 25 minutes after the hour now. Let's take a look at other developing stories. First up, nuclear talks about Iran are hitting a critical point now. The U.S. and other world powers are trying to get a framework agreement in place by Tuesday's deadline. KOSIK: Sources tell CNN that Iran is refusing to budge on the extent of nuclear research it would be allowed to carry out. Israeli's prime minister is slamming the talks. Benjamin Netanyahu says a nuclear deal with Iran fulfills Israel's deepest fears. We are going to have a live report in the next hour.

An Air Canada flight skidded off the runway as it landed in Halifax early this morning. The airline confirmed that it made a hard landing as it arrived from Toronto. One hundred thirty three passengers and five crew members were on board, 23 people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

BLACKWELL: A car collided with a Los Angeles commuter train near the University of Southern California. The firefighters say at least 21 people were injured after the driver turned in front of the train, derailing two of the cars. One person in the car was critically injured.

KOSIK: There are reports months before Thursday's east village blast that leveled three buildings that utility workers discovered a gas line to a restaurant which had been illegally tapped and natural gas was leaking into other buildings. Investigators are looking into this. City official say this gas leak was the source of the fire and explosion that injured more than 20 people. Two people are still missing.

BLACKWELL: There could be a change in balance in this war on ISIS if a key city is claimed. Now allied forces are doing everything in their power to take down militants, including bombing that city. We go straight to the front line in the battle for Tikrit.

Also, a Germanwings pilot's speech goes viral after he tries to reassure passengers in the wake of this horrific crash. You'll hear his emotional announcement next.

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KOSIK: A slight dip in mortgage rates this week thanks to a decline in ten-year treasury yields. Take a look.

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