German prosecutors said on Thursday they believed the co-pilot who crashed a Germanwings plane in the French Alps last week had searched on a computer for ways to commit suicide shortly before the crash which killed 150 people.

In a statement, prosecutors in his home town of Duesseldorf they said the computer, found in his home, also showed searches on cockpit doors and safety precautions related to them.

They said Andreas Lubitz had also "looked for information on ways to commit suicide" in computer searches that took place between March 16 and 23, one day before the crash.