By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS
The 150 victims of the Germanwings crash over the French Alps in March have been identified and their burial permits have been signed, announced Marseille prosecutor, Brice Robin, on Tuesday.
The prosecutor said in a statement that the Identification Commission, which met on May 15 in Marseille, "has validated the identification of 150 victims."
"The 150 death certificates have been signed, as well as the permits for burial," the statement said.
It said the identification was completed after the analysis of DNA provided by relatives of the victims.
Prosecutor Robin added that officials at German airline Lufthansa -- Germanwings' parent company -- were handed copies of death certificates in order "to allow the return of the victims’ bodies to their families."
The air disaster in March was one of the most tragic incidents in recent German history and the first deadly crash of a Germanwings plane since the low-budget airline was founded by Lufthansa in 2002.
Earlier this month, the BEA, the French authority investigating the crash, said the Germanwings co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing the aircraft in the French Alps had in fact practiced rapid descent on a previous flight.
French investigators confirmed in the preliminary report that the 27-year-old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz "intentionally" crashed the airplane.
