Broken Bones Suggest Flight 447 Broke Up in Midair

Bodies recovered in the Air France disaster show multiple fractures in the legs, hips, and arms, a Brazilian official said today. Experts said such injuries suggest the plane broke up in the air, and a spokesman for Brazilian medical examiners said autopsies on some of the 50 bodies recovered so far showed the fractures.

A Brazilian newspaper today also said some of the victims were found with little or no clothing, citing unnamed investigators. One former accident investigator added that "in an in-air break up like we are supposing here, the clothes are just torn away. Getting ejected into that kind of windstream is like hitting a brick wall—even if they stay in their seats, it is a crushing effect. Most of them were long dead before they hit the water would be my guess." (More Air France Flight 447 stories.)