Crash bodies show bone fractures

SAO PAULO – Bodies recovered in the Air France Flight 447 disaster show multiple fractures in the legs, hips and arms, a Brazilian official said Wednesday. Experts said such injuries suggest the plane broke up in the air.

A spokesman for Brazilian medical examiners told The Associated Press that autopsies on an undisclosed number of the 50 bodies recovered so far showed the fractures. The official spoke on condition he not be named because of department rules.

The description of the bodies and large pieces of the plane recovered point to the jet breaking apart in the air, said Frank Ciaccio, a former forensic expert at the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

“Typically, if you see intact bodies and multiple fractures – arm, leg, hip fractures – it’s a good indicator of a midflight breakup,” Ciaccio said. “Especially if you’re seeing large pieces of aircraft as well.”

On Wednesday, the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper – citing unamed investigators – reported the pattern of fractures and said some of the victims were found with little or no clothing. The newspaper earlier reported the bodies also showed no signs of burns.

Jack Casey, an aviation safety consultant in Washington, D.C., who is a former accident investigator, said the lack of clothing could be significant.

“In an in-air break up like we are supposing here, the clothes are just torn away,” he said.