Flight 447

Jet Likely Broke Up in Air

Autopsies of victims show fractures.

Investigators are a little closer to unraveling the mystery of what downed Air France Flight 447 over the Atlantic Ocean between Rio de Janeiro to Paris last month, killing all 228 people aboard. About 50 bodies have been recovered from the sea, The Independent reports, and autopsies uncovered fractures on an undisclosed number of the bodies. Victims were also found with little or no clothing. Both facts suggest that the plane broke up in midair, as during such accidents clothing is torn away, according to Jack Casey, a former accident investigator. Casey also explained that, "getting ejected into that kind of windstream is like hitting a brick wall," which would cause multiple fractures on intact bodies. When intact planes crash into the ocean, apparently, bodies and debris end up in small pieces.