Rafael B crashes in France

This is what appears to be the first crash of a Rafael, since they went operational in 2004. A two seat B model crashed Thursday in central France, killing the pilot. It will be interesting to see what the cause was, because they're already saying it flew a 4,000 meter vertical descent before impact. That's roughly 13,000 feet straight down, or nearly straight down. Something must have happened to the pilot, the question is what.

A two-seat Dassault Rafale B crashed late on 6 December in the central region of France, killing the pilot.

The French air force confirms the crash occurred at 6:20 pm during a training flight with the aircraft unarmed. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but the air force issued a brief statement.

Source

maybe a flat spin? One thing about the Rafale, this is the first incident that I have notesed even when it was in flight evaluation.

It does not mention the fate (If any) of the backseater or if a second person was even on board. The other question is the "B" version in flight test? Or is it operational already?

4,000 meters straight down - that should of given plenty of time for an ejection, wonder what happened. Like zaph said something must of happened to the pilot to make him / her unconscious or maybe even dead. Is there any sort of auto eject function on modern ejector seats? I've never thought about it, I suppose the possibility of an accidental ejection would be too much of a concern to have such a system.