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THE AIR France jet that vanished in the middle of the Atlantic with 228 passengers on board did not disintegrate in mid-air but plunged into the water intact and belly first, investigators said yesterday.

Alain Bouillard, leading the preliminary inquiry on behalf of France’s Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses or BEA accident agency, said examination of wreckage indicated that the A330 Airbus was still in one piece when it crashed, at high speed. “The plane was not destroyed while it was in flight,” he said. “It seems to have hit the surface of the water in the direction of flight and with a strong vertical acceleration.”