Sixteen exchange stu­dents and two teachers were aboard the German­wings Airbus A320 to go back to Dusseldorf, Ger­many after spending some time in Barcelona, Spain. But all of a sudden, the plane started to descend without any warning. The air traffic controllers sent out several distress calls but no one replied. Then, the plane that held 150 passengers crashed into the French Alps, leaving no survivor.

Authorities started to investigate the situa­tion and reason for why this may have occurred. Flight recordings show that only the co-pilot was in the cockpit before the plane crashed, and the commanding pilot left the cockpit for a while but was unable to enter the cockpit even after pleading to be let in. Officials say that the crash may have been deliberate because they were able to hear the co-pilot’s breathing throughout the entire flight. Moreover,the co-pilot pressed the descend button to 96 feet, which is the low­est possible setting. Not only that, the plane has an option to open the door through a keypad after entering a password, yet the co-pilot from the inside failed to disable the lock to the door. However, authorities say that the crash is unlikely a terrorist attack and are not really sure about the reason behind the co-pilot’s decision. Such an incident proves to be a tragedy. Further investiga­tion should clarify the reasons behind this crash’s ill-fated ending.