Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings could face liabilities well above the typical ceiling in airline crashes for the passengers who died on Tuesday when one of its jets was flown into an Alpine mountain, some aviation lawyers said.

A Libyan businessman who helped arrange a £1.8bn (€2.8bn) compensation deal with the families of Pan Am 103 victims said today he was acting on behalf of the Libyan business sector that wants to see UN sanctions lifted.

Libya’s preliminary €2.9bn offer to families of 270 people killed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 is not the only step needed for a lifting of sanctions against the country, the US administration has said.