The black box from the Germanwings Airbus A-320 that crashed in the French Alps Tuesday morning has been discovered. However, the immediate cause of the crash remains unknown.
All 150 people on board Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf were killed. That number includes 144 passengers and six crewmembers. Sixteen of the passengers were schoolchildren.
Lufthansa, which runs the budget airline, said that it is assuming that the crash is an accident, notes Reuters. Terrorism has already been ruled out by Washington.
One of the black box recorders was found at the crash site, which is just north of Nice. As The Guardian notes, investigators are still trying to figure out what the cause of the crash is.
One of the primary concerns is that the crew did not sent out a distress signal, even as it lost altitude for eight minutes. It’s also strange that the pilot didn’t try to change the flight path to avoid the ravine.
While the weather seemed clear at the time of the crash, clouds began moving in as helicopters and vehicles arrived at the scene. The Guardian also reported that French authorities paused their search at the site at 8 p.m. local time as it got dark out. They will start searching again in the morning.
Debris of the plane is described as small, with one mountain guide telling the Guardian that it was “like the plane has totally disappeared.”
German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also called the crash site “a picture of horror.” He added, “The grief of the families and friends is immeasurable. We must now stand together. We are united in our great grief.”
Airbus said that the plane was 24 years old and Lufthansa had done routine maintenance on the plane Monday.
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