Germanwings flight 4U9525 crash: One black box 'damaged', says source close to inquiry

ROISSY-CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT, France (AFP) - The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recovered from the wreckage of the Germanwings Airbus that crashed, killing all 150 aboard, has been found damaged and has being taken to Paris for analysis, a source close to the inquiry said on Wednesday.

"The black box that was found is the CVR," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The CVR "was damaged. It has been transferred to Paris this morning".

A second so-called black box, in this case recording flight data, has yet to be found on the mountain in the French Alps where the Airbus A320 went down on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, search and rescue operations restarted on Wednesday at the crash site in the French Alps. Helicopters took over from a nearby improvised base, heading for the remote area of the Alps where the plane crashed on Tuesday, spreading debris over a wide area.

France, which is overseeing the rescue operation, says it is considering all possible causes for plane crash to explain why the Airbus aircraft ploughed into an Alpine mountainside, but a terrorist attack is not the most likely scenario.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also told RTL radio on Wednesday that the black box that was found on Tuesday was the cockpit voice recorder, saying that it had been damaged but could still be used to find information.

(This story is developing)


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