Investigators say Air France jet landed too far down the runway

5 August 2005 (AP)

TORONTO - Investigators said on Friday that the Air France jet that crashed earlier this week appeared to have landed too far down the runway, which may have contributed to it skidding off its path and into a ravine before bursting into flames.

They were quick to add that it was too soon to determine whether the long landing, combined with torrential rains and gusting winds, was to blame for the crash, which all 309 people on board remarkably survived.

“We do have some information that the aircraft did land long,” Real Levasseur, chief investigator for Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, told a news briefing.