rgbrock1,
"...provided to the BEA."
From the 2nd BEA interim report:
1.13 Medical and Pathological Information
This section is based on examination of the autopsy reports and photographs of the victims made by the Brazilian authorities and provided to the BEA. It should be noted that interpretation of the injuries is disrupted by the effects of prolonged presence in water.
The autopsies performed made it possible to identify fifty persons: forty-five passengers, four flight attendants, including an in-charge flight attendant, and the Captain.
According to the assigned seat placements at check-in (appendix 1), the passengers were distributed around the cabin as follows:
- Eight were seated in business class between doors 1 and 2;
- Three were seated in business class aft of door 2;
- Twelve were seated in economy forward of the over-wing exits;
- Twenty-two were seated at the rear of the airplane, between the overwing exits and the number 3 doors.
Forty-three of the victims had fractures of the spinal column, the thorax and the pelvis. The fractures described were located mainly at the level of the transition vertebrae.
The compression fractures of the spinal column associated with the fractures of the pelvis(2), observed on passengers seated throughout the cabin, are compatible with the effect, on a seated person, of high acceleration whose component in the axis of the spinal column is oriented upwards through the pelvis.
Note: the information from the autopsies does not make it possible to reach a conclusion as to the location of the Captain at the time of the accident.
(2)Fractures of the pelvis can also be associated with the wearing of a seat belt.
GB