Air France jet crashed vertically, black box hunt to continue: Investigators

Earlier reports from the Brazilian authorities suggested that the autopsy of the victim's bodies shows that the injuries sustained indicated that the flight broke up midair. Examining the wreckage retrieved so far led the investigators to infer that the flight was intact as it hit the water.

Alain Bouillard, the head of the French team investigating the crash that killed all 228 passengers on board said in a press conference that "Today we are very far from establishing the causes of the accident".

The lead investigator said the plane was not destroyed in flight.

"The plane seems to have hit the surface of the water on its flight trajectory with a strong vertical acceleration," he said.

Moreover, "neither traces of fire nor traces of explosives" were found, said Bouillard, eliminating any possibility of mid air explosion and the role of terrorism.

The life jackets obtained from the wreckage were not inflated indicating that the passengers did not have any time to react.

FOR FULL COVERAGE OF THE AIR FRANCE CRASH CLICK HERE

Faulty Speed Sensors

Earlier reports blamed the crash on faulty speed reading provided by the Pitot tube, which could have stalled the aircraft midair.

But Bouillard said the sensors were a "factor but not the cause" for the crash.

Some of the messages transmitted by the Air France plane mentioned inconsistent speed recording from the external speed sensors (Pitot tube). This led numerous analysts to predict that the pilot could have set an incorrect flight speed based on the readings from the faulty Pitot tube.

Black box search to continue

Bouillard said that the search for the black box will continue for 10 more days till 10 July.

The flight recorders also known as the black boxes emit locator signals called "pinger" that can be picked up underwater listening devices. However, the battery powering the signal can last up to 30 days. The 30 day time limit expired on 1 July, despite the setback the search will continue till July 10.

The hunt for the black box is spearheaded by a French submarine backed up with other ships. A powerful underwater listening device provided by the U.S navy is also used to pick up the "pinger" signals emitted by the black box.