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German newspaper publishes black box transcript of fatal Germanwings flight

A passenger Germanwings plane flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crushed on Tuesday in the French Alps, killing all 150 passengers on board

© EPA/CAROLINE SEIDEL

BERLIN, March 29. /TASS/. The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag has published the transcript of the "black box" recording of the Germanwings Airbus, which describes the final minutes of the ill-fated flight.

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Motives of pilot for crashing Germanwings plane remain unclear

According to the newspaper, Germanwings flight 4U9525 was delayed 26 minutes at the airport of Barcelona. After the departure, the captain told co-pilot Andreas L. that he was going to the toilet, with Andreas L. expressing readiness "to take over". At around 10:27, when the plane gained the altitude of approximately 11,600 meters, the commander left the cockpit. As early as 10:29, the radar registered the plane’s descent. At 10:32 air traffic controllers tried to get in touch with the pilots but without success. Then they could hear the captain trying to return to the cockpit, apparently, feeling that the airliner was losing altitude. At first he pleaded the co-pilot to let him in, then started shouting at him to "open the damn door", fighting to re-enter it. Andreas L. kept silent all the time, only the sound of his breathing is heard on the recording. At the end, just before the plane’s collision with a mountain, sounds of passengers screaming can be heard in the background.

Bild am Sonntag also reported that the remains of Andreas L. had been identified, citing sources in the French investigative authorities. The newspaper noted that a DNA analysis had been carried out for the identification.

Prosecutor of Marseille Brice Robin announced on Thursday that the "black box" recording pointed to the fact that the Airbus A320 crash in southern France was the result of deliberate actions of co-pilot, a German citizen Andreas Lubitz. Investigators believe that he locked the cockpit, refusing to let in the crew commander, and began the descent, which resulted in the plane’s collision with a mountain.

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