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Gendarmes and rescuers from the Gendarmerie High-Mountain Rescue Group work at the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus A320 near Le Vernet, French Alps on March 31, 2015.(Photo: Francis Malenfer, AFP/Getty Images)
The co-pilot of the Germanwings plane that crashed into the French Alps last week appears to have researched suicide methods and cockpit door security in the days leading up to the crash.
The Düsseldorf-bound Airbus A320 slammed into the mountains less than an hour after departing Barcelona on March 24, killing all 150 people aboard. Authorities, citing cockpit voice recordings, said they believe co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and intentionally crashed the plane.
Prosecutors in Düsseldorf said investigators found a tablet computer at Lubitz's apartment, and they were able to reconstruct searches done on it from March 16 to March 23.
"During this time the user was searching for medical treatments, as well as informing himself about ways and possibilities of killing himself," they said in a statement, according to The New York Times. "On at least one day the person concerned also spent several minutes looking up search terms about cockpit doors and their safety measures."
The development came as the second black box from the airliner was found. Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said in a news conference that the recorder was "completely blackened." The flight data recorder contains information such as the time, altitude, speed and direction of the aircraft. The cockpit voice recorder was found soon after the crash.
Robin said investigators have identified body parts from all 150 on board the airliner and are studying some 2,800 pieces of the human remains. Matching the parts to DNA samples from families of the victims will be a lengthy process, he added.
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The CEOs of Germanwings and Lufthansa visited a memorial near the site of the crash in the French Alps on the week anniversary. Meanwhile, two publications described cellphone video they say was taken inside the plane before the crash. VPC
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