Airbus crash 'not caused by breaking up in flight'

The Air France Airbus that crashed off Brazil killing 228 people, among them three Irish nationals, did not break up in flight but plunged vertically into the Atlantic, experts said today.

Alain Bouillard, leading the investigation into the June 1 crash for the French accident investigation agency BEA, also said life jackets found among the wreckage of the plane were not inflated.