www.business.comAir France jet 'broke up mid-air'
Last Updated: Thursday, 18 June 2009, 08:02 GMT
Fractures in the legs, hips and arms of the Air France 447 victims strongly indicate the plane broke up in mid-air, experts said.
With more than 400 pieces of debris recovered from the ocean's surface, the top French investigator, Paul-Louis Arslanian, expressed optimism about eventually discovering what brought down the plane.
But he also called the search conditions - far from land in very deep water - "one of the worst situations ever known in an accident investigation".
French investigators are beginning to form "an image that is progressively less fuzzy", Mr Arslanian, who runs the French air accident investigation agency BEA said.
"We are in a situation that is a bit more favourable than the first days," Arslanian said. "We can say there is a little less uncertainty, so there is a little more optimism... (but) it is premature for the time being to say what happened."
A spokesman for Brazilian medical examiners told The Associated Press on Wednesday that fractures were found in post mortems on an undisclosed number of the 50 bodies recovered so far.
Former forensic expert at the US National Transportation Safety Board, Frank Ciacco, said: "Typically, if you see intact bodies and multiple fractures - arm, leg, hip fractures - it's a good indicator of a mid-flight break up. Especially if you're seeing large pieces of aircraft as well."
The pattern of fractures was first reported on Wednesday by Brazil's O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper, which cited unnamed investigators. The paper also reported that some victims were found with little or no clothing, and had no signs of burns.
Search teams from Brazil, France, the US and other countries are methodically scanning the surface and depths of the Atlantic for signs of the Airbus A330 that crashed on May 31 after running into thunderstorms en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
All 228 people aboard were killed.
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