Second black box found after 9 days

The second black box from the Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps last week has been found after a nine-day search, prosecutors said yesterday.

Authorities are hoping to unearth more clues about the disaster from the black box after the first voice recorder suggested that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately flew the plane into a mountain.

The second black box records technical flight data that could provide vital insights into the final moments of Flight 4U9525 before it crashed last Tuesday, killing all 150 people on board.

The plane smashed into the mountains at a speed of 700 kilometres an hour, instantly killing everyone on board -- half of them German and more than 50 from Spain.

Meanwhile, German prosecutors yesterday said the Lubitz had searched online for information about suicide and cockpit doors in the week before the disaster.

A tablet computer which prosecutors said was used by him was found in a search of a flat he used in Duesseldorf, the prosecutor's office in the western city said in a statement.

It indicated the user had been researching "medical methods of treatment", "ways to commit suicide" as well as "cockpit doors and their security provisions", it added.