When Germanwings Flight 4U9525 crashed into French Alps on March 24 killing 150 people, including crew, "one [pilot] was in the cockpit and the other wasn't," the German prosecutors' office informed Reuters. The death toll was 148 as initially reported and is now being quoted as 150 across various news agencies. This information came forth after a voice recording was recovered by investigators. As New York Times Times points out, one of the pilots got locked out of the cockpit. "The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door, and there is no answer. And then he hits the door stronger, and no answer. There is never an answer," a senior French military officer involved in the investigation told NYT.

"You can hear he is trying to smash the door down." But the co-pilot didn't open up.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin insists that the co-pilot "voluntarily" put the aircraft into a dive. He was alive until the moment of impact, because they could hear him breathing in the recording, The Guardian reports.

Debris of the crashed Germanwings passenger jet seen scattered on the mountain side in French Alps. Source: Popsci

The first 20 minutes of conversation between the pilot and co-pilot was amicable, then the co-pilot took over when the pilot left to make a 'natural call'."

"At this point, the co-pilot accelerated the plane’s descent using the keys of the monitoring system."

Was it suicide?

Brice Robin named the co-pilot as Andreas Lubitz, a 28-year-old German citizen. He was no terrorist. "There is no element that indicates this is a terrorist action."

"I can’t call this a suicide, but it is a legitimate question to ask," he adds.

What about the 150 odd passengers on board who were minutes away from death when the co-pilot pulled this stunt?