Concorde Crash: Death Toll Rises to 114; Investigators Narrowing Their Focus
FRANK SESNO, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll in Tuesday's crash of an Air France Concorde has risen to 114, with the news a short time ago that a fifth body has been found in the wreckage of a hotel damaged when the plane plowed into it. Investigators looking for a cause of the disaster, meanwhile, are now narrowing their focus. CNN's Tom Mintier has the story.</s>TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are so many questions and few answers. French investigators looking into the crash of Air France Concorde flight 4590 have issued their first report, a report that seems to direct the focus on the ill-fated Concorde's tires and left-side engines. This video, taken by an amateur photographer, clearly shows the left side of the Concorde moments before impact. Fire is visible not only from the engines but forward, near the fuel cells in the wing of the plane. It is possible a tire may have ruptured the fuel tanks when it blew out on takeoff. American Bill Lightfoot knows all too well what may have happened. He was aboard an Air France Concorde flight in 1979. A tire blew and sent debris through the wing that ruptured the fuel tanks.</s>BILL LIGHTFOOT, CONCORDE PASSENGER IN 1979: It was a ragged hole, and there were sort of a air-equipped or stainless steel hoses pushing us, protruding up, things coming out of the wing, and lots of fluid coming out.</s>MINTIER: That fluid was highly-explosive jet fuel. In this photograph of the Concorde in Paris, you can see the plume of flame behind the aircraft. Bill Lightfoot knows a bit about aviation. He's a vice president at General Dynamics. When he flew the Concorde, he was an aircraft consultant. At first, the flight crew ignored his concerns that something was wrong, until he confronted the co-pilot and held his head to the window for a look.</s>LIGHTFOOT: He got very excited. He says, "mon dieu," and turned sort of ashen.</s>MINTIER: In French, "mon dieu" means, "oh god!" While it may be too early in the investigation to fix blame, French investigators have already focused on the tires. Their first report indicates that the tire debris was found on the runway and along the path leading to the crash site. (on camera): Air France has suspended its Concorde flights until further notice. British Airways, the only other airline flying the Concorde, resumed flights the day after the accident here. The final results of this investigation could determine whether the Concorde is still safe to fly on, or for that matter, even fly. Tom Mintier, CNN, Paris.