Updated at 3.57pm
GERMAN PROSECUTORS HAVE said that the co-pilot suspected of deliberately causing last week’s Germanwings plane crash searched online for information about suicide and cockpit doors in the week before the disaster.
A tablet computer which prosecutors say was used by Andreas Lubitz, found in a search of his home, revealed searches had been made for “ways to commit suicide”.
He also searched for “cockpit doors and their security provisions”, the prosecutor’s office in Dusseldorf said in a statement.
Prosecutors have said Lubitz was diagnosed as suicidal “several years ago”, before he became a pilot.
Black box
Meanwhile, French officials confirmed earlier that the second black box from the crashed plane has been found, after a nine day search.
Recordings from the first black box suggest Lubitz deliberately crashed the craft, while the pilot was locked outside the cockpit.
The second black box records technical flight data that could provide vital insights into the final moments of Flight 4U9525 before it went down.
French prosecutor Brice Robin told reporters that the condition of the second box “gives us reasonable hope that it can be used.”
The second black box measures data such as speed, altitude and pilot action and will be an “indispensable” element in the investigation, Robin said.
150 people died when the Germanwings plane crashed in a remote region in the French Alps on Tuesday of last week. Rescue workers have been sifting through the wreckage for days trying to identify body parts and victims via their DNA.
Robin said 150 DNA strands had been isolated but stressed this did not necessarily mean all the victims had been identified.
The search for evidence has been hampered by the extremely difficult mountain terrain, as well as the force of the crash.
Several airlines and countries around the world have since ruled that two authorised crew members must be present in the cockpit at all times.
Air France said that they have had two people in the cockpit since Wednesday as a “temporary” measure after the European aviation safety agency issued recommendations.
Includes reporting from AFP.
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