Investigators: No explosion on Flight 447

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 15 (UPI) -- Air France Flight 447 likely broke up in flight over the Atlantic Ocean but not because of an explosion, post-mortem reports so far indicate.

The absence of burns or smoke on the first 16 of 50 bodies examined indicates an explosion was unlikely, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday. Also, the post-mortem reports from Brazil showed none of the bodies had water in their lungs, indicating they died before hitting the water, the British newspaper said.

The May 31 crash killed 228 passengers and crew while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

The victims found were missing their clothes, which presumably were stripped from them as the plane fell, the Telegraph said. The bodies were discovered in two stretches of water more than 50 miles apart, also suggesting the jetliner broke up before hitting the water.

The probe into the air disaster has centered on "inconsistent" readings from Airbus A330's airspeed sensors, which could have confused flight computers and resulted in pilots flying too fast or too slowly into a storm.

The top executive of Airbus's parent company said there likely were multiple factors that produced the crash.

"In such an accident, there is not one cause," said Louis Gallois, head of EADS. "It's the convergence of different causes creating such an accident.

"It's essential for everybody to know what happened and we know that it's not easy. I hope we will find the black box."

The flight data recorders, known as black boxes, are thought to have enough power to emit signals for another two weeks.