FNC reported that. The copilot was slumped over the controls and no sign of the pilot. Possibly the seating arrangement led to that conclusion. And didn't the passenger text that the pilot was blue?
Turning blue is usually a symoton of severe hypoxia. One theory is that when the aircraft suffered some kind of decompression, the pilot and co-pilot put on their oxygen masks (which are fed from a bottle of compressed oxygen, not a chemical generator like the passengers) but something was wrong with their supply. The co-pilot passed out first and then the pilot realized what was happening and tried to reach one of the portable oxygen bottles in the cabin but didn't make it. The aircraft, flying on autopilot, continued until for some reason went into a dive and crashed.
---NO, that was said to come from a fighter pilot flying nearby. Bull if you ask me..