making the exit available for use 45 seconds after the aircraft had stopped. Once the hatch had been removed, passengers still encountered difficulties in getting to and using this exit. The exit-row seats allowed only to pass through, the armrests between those seats remained down, and the exit was directly over a seat, requiring passengers to manoeuvre awkwardly to escape. Passengers in the rear of the aircraft were panicking as smoke, and eventually flames, filled the hot cabin at about the same time the right overwing exit was opened. Passengers crawled over seat backs to get to the right overwing exit as well as the two front exits; some survivors told investigators that the aisle had become blocked with bodies. This caused jamming at all exits, and the seat over which the overwing exit was located failed in such a way that the seat back collapsed forward, causing a further obstruction. A man who had been seated in 16C was found dead lying across this exit, and investigators were unsure whether the seat back collapse had trapped him. A 14-year-old boy was found lying across the top of the man from seat 16C by firefighters 5 minutes after the aircraft had stopped. He was alive, suffering only superficial burns to his hands. He was the last of 27 survivors to escape through that exit, and the last evacuee to survive the accident. Most of the 38 bodies were found clustered around the overwing exit. This exit was the first exit available to the 76 passengers seated behind it or even with it, and the nearest exit for 100 passengers. Fire and loss of aft exits Fuel had been spilling from the left wing from the moment the first loud noise was heard. That fuel had ignited on contact with flames from the hole in the engine combustion chamber as the aircraft began to decelerate on the runway. When the aircraft stopped, fuel was still leaking from a opening at a rate of 450 - 680 litres per minute (98 - 149 Imperial gallons, 118 - 179 US gallons), feeding a growing fire. By about this time, the fire had already penetrated the aluminium alloy skin of the aircraft below the level of the floor in the passenger compartment. The AAIB estimated that between five seconds before and 13 seconds after the aircraft stopped were needed for fire to penetrate the