Chapter 1202

Beep beep beep beep.

When the alarm on the phone rang, the group of people discussing via video conference all stopped.

"It's 3 o'clock."

Stefano pressed his short, stubby fingers on his phone, opened his eyes, looked at everyone, and said: "How is it? Any conclusion?"

"No new conclusion." Alessio looked a bit dejected. He lowered his head to look at the notebook in front of him; after several hours of brainstorming, the notebook was filled with notes, yet he still couldn't conclude whether the plane crash was due to human cause or mechanical failure, so he couldn't confirm what Jiang Yuan had actually seen.

Stefano, as a director, had brought in experts from every field as requested by Jiang Yuan. Avia Airlines was not short of money; their annual consulting fees ran into hundreds of millions of dollars, and when hiring experts, they paid readily, just as they had done for Alessio.

Avia Airlines didn't even need to personally seek out these experts; after Alessio made his request, they simply asked a professional business information firm to find people.

With consulting fees of over a thousand euros per hour, Alessio could obtain any expert he needed, and any problem could be answered by professionals, yet Alessio still hadn't gotten the answer he wanted.

The content on his notebook was complex and varied, yet he couldn't reach a conclusion.

"Sorry." Alessio could only answer Stefano like that.

"It's fine." The 69-year-old Stefano, at this moment, was rather open-minded, and said lightly: "Your efforts at least prove this is extremely difficult to prove, and an unconfirmable proof of mechanical failure is enough for us."

"This..." Alessio recalled Jiang Yuan's expression and demeanor at the time, and finally could only spread his hands: "Sorry..."

"Has the autopsy report come out?" Stefano raised his head, turned, and asked.

"Not yet." The reply came from a contact person of Avia Airlines sitting in the corner, also dispatched from Italy Bandeli, originally responsible for sales, now participating in crisis PR to continue sales.

Alessio flipped through his notebook noisily: "Wasn't it said the autopsy report would come out in 24 hours?"

"It's said that roughly after 24 hours, the autopsy report will be given, not exactly at 24 hours." The Avia contact looked at Alessio, who had no halo, and spoke bluntly: "Maybe the report will come out in a day or two."

Alessio had been busy for so long, timing everything tightly; hearing the contact say this, he couldn't help but ask: "Will it really take that long?"

"Chinese coroners are first and foremost bureaucrats; delaying a few days is not unusual." The Avia contact said lightly: "After you stay in China for a while, you'll understand; some officials' work efficiency is very low; every project we apply for gets delayed a long time, both slow and troublesome."

While speaking, he paid more attention to Director Stefano's expression, and the content was also meant to explain the situation to Stefano.

"Um..." Alessio didn't understand these things, so he could only nod blankly.

"Well, Alessio, you can rest a bit longer; after you wake up, reconsider work; maybe then you'll get the answer." Director Stefano also didn't press Alessio further; after so long without a conclusion, adding another one or two hours meant nothing.

Alessio himself was also very tired; hearing the director's words, he ended the video conference and went to rest.

Just as he reached the room and took off his clothes, the phone rang again.

"The autopsy report is out." The caller was precisely the Avia Airlines contact, who specifically said: "This time they still released the results on schedule; possibly our Chinese agent helped, they'll come over quickly and discuss strategy with you."

"I'll be there right away." Alessio slapped his face hard, seeing no time to shower, he just wiped his armpits with a wet wipe from the desk, then changed into a fresh shirt, walked out of the suite, took the elevator, and in a few minutes returned to the top-floor meeting room.

Looking up, 69-year-old Stefano had also returned, similarly changed clothes, even his pants were changed; his secretary did the same.

The Avia Airlines contact handed Alessio a file folder.

Alessio nodded, sat down, and before opening the file, he unconsciously took a deep breath.

The translator sitting beside him looked at Alessio strangely and whispered: "You don't need to worry; now that the autopsy report has arrived, it should be the moment to solve the mystery."

"That's only if the answer matches our expectations." Alessio paused, then said: "I also don't know how he solved the mystery."

"You'll know once you see it." The translator is a liberal arts student and cannot understand the mountain in Alessio's heart.

Alessio carefully, circle by circle, untied the file bag.

Director Stefano beside him didn't urge him either; at the same time, in the video conference, Avia Airlines' own experts were coming online one by one, and soon dozens of avatars appeared on the left side of the screen.

Alessio couldn't bother with them now; he just took out the autopsy report, opened the translation software on his phone, and prepared to read.

The autopsy reports are standardized; though the models of the two countries differ slightly, both are mainly explanatory in content.

Alessio used the translation software to quickly scan the explanatory part at the front, then entered the specific details section, where he stopped and began reading slowly and laboriously; the translator assisted beside him, and soon Alessio's focus shifted to the photos accompanying the report.

At the same time, on the other end of the video conference, the professionals hired by Avia began manually translating the autopsy report.

The progress of both sides was roughly the same.

By the time Alessio, with difficulty, finished viewing the autopsy report together with the translator, a more professional version of the report was also sent over.

Alessio silently looked at the latter again.

Stefano waited patiently.

On the curtain on the wall, one could see some experts' small avatars also lowering their heads to read the translation, but purely the autopsy report only needed to be read by a few people; most, like aviation experts, were just waiting for the conclusion.

After a long while, Alessio raised his head.

"How is it?" Stefano asked.

"From the coroner's perspective..." Alessio's voice was a bit dry and hoarse, and he said: "The Chinese coroners have indeed proven it was mechanical failure, not human error."

The small avatars in the video conference instantly became chaotic.

In the meeting room on site, several personnel from Avia Airlines also looked at Alessio with surprise and uncertainty.

The China regional president of Avia Airlines even shouted sternly: "The causes of the plane crash are various; on what basis does he rule out human error?"

He knew the official report wouldn't be written randomly, so he had already set his bottom line at not ruling it out.

Alessio swallowed his saliva and said: "From the autopsy report, first, the pilots were not affected by alcohol or known drugs..."

"There are many types of drugs; we can raise an objection." The airline's lawyer immediately put forward the corresponding viewpoint.

Alessio, as a coroner, found this disdainful and said: "They left blood samples; you can try to request a re-examination from a third-party institution."

That lawyer immediately fell silent.

Alessio continued: "Second, the trauma pattern is consistent; burns are the main injury."

This time no one raised an objection.

Alessio sighed, then said: "Third, and most importantly, the Chinese coroners confirmed the victims' airway burns and confirmed they were ante-mortem burns."

"What does that mean?" The president felt uneasy.

Alessio said: "Ante-mortem burns indicate that before the pilots' deaths, the cabin already had a large amount of hot gas. Combined with the burns on the pilots' lower limbs and feet—foot charring, thigh burns—it can be judged that the hot gas came from below upward. Most likely, it was hot gas leaking from the floor. Could this aircraft's engine or exhaust pipe have possibly leaked hot gas from rupturing at the pilots' feet?"

The faces of the Avia company employees present all turned ugly.

The lawyer immediately said: "You don't need to answer this question. Mr. Alessio, you just need to explain the autopsy report; don't ask questions."

Alaisio was not surprised. The airline had no forensic pathologist of its own and could only hire one externally; otherwise, the lawyer would have driven him away by now.

"You mentioned premortem burns—are you certain? Can you distinguish between premortem and postmortem burns? Or could someone who just died still show signs of premortem burns?" The lawyer's questions came one after another.

"We can tell. But if you insist on saying so, a person who has just died does indeed still exhibit vital reactions..."

"Then that settles it! Doesn't this prove that we still cannot determine whether the burns occurred before or after death?"

At this moment, Alaisio would not listen to the lawyer, only saying: "It's not that simple..."

"Mr. Alaisio, I believe it must be very complicated; otherwise, you should have figured out the cause earlier, shouldn't you?" The lawyer chuckled twice.

Alaisio froze for a moment, then, seeing the lawyer's smug smile, he shook his head and said: "I can only observe from the sidelines. Moreover, due to centrifugal force, the tracheal mucosa of the corpse was torn apart, and simultaneously, the organs inside the thoracic cavity were flung out along the esophagus and respiratory tract, with an opening made in the neck, these organs dragging the torn tracheal mucosa with them as they flew out, leaving little tracheal mucosa behind, which is also difficult to confirm, but the Chinese forensic pathologist found it."

The lawyer listened to these uncommon terms, stunned for a moment, likely still mentally simulating this pathway in his mind, and for a time could not speak.

Alaisio continued: "The Chinese forensic pathologist must have had a suspicion, so he deliberately sought out and sampled a piece of residual tracheal mucosa. The edema and congestion of the respiratory mucosa differ between premortem and vital reactions, especially with hot gases. If a person is dead, even with vital reactions, they would not breathe, so the absence of severe external neck burns but presence of congestion and edema in the respiratory tract is a clear sign of premortem burns."

At this moment, the CEO spoke slowly: "If the pilot's respiratory tract was burned before death, does that prove the aircraft had a mechanical failure? Perhaps the pilot's operational error came first, followed by the leakage of hot gases?"

"I don't understand these matters; you can ask your aviation expert. But hot gases must have a source, after all." Alaisio was indifferent, or rather, after seeing this autopsy report, he had gradually calmed down.

As a forensic pathologist, seeing the autopsy report afterward, he could easily understand what Jiang Yuan had done, but recalling the autopsy process, Alaisio could not confirm whether, if he himself had been in charge of the dissection, he would have deliberately searched for the torn tracheal fragments—and moreover, found them.

Most importantly, Alaisio knew this was not luck.

This corpse had lost many internal organs; to be precise, all of its internal organs had been flung out. In terms of importance, such an autopsy would certainly prioritize the heart, because cardiac apex blood can be tested for toxicology, followed by stomach contents, which can be used to determine what the deceased ate before death; then the brain and bladder are also relatively important, then the liver and lungs...

No matter how one ranks them, the trachea is certainly ranked very low, especially when there are no burn marks on the outside of the neck—no one would think to look for tracheal fragments. Perhaps, if other clues pointed the way, one might later think to check, but in this situation, when the neck was first opened, no careful search was made, and during a subsequent re-dissection, they would absolutely not find them.

Even after opening the abdominal cavity and turning back to look, one might still not be able to find them, because the torn trachea might have left only a small remnant that was not flung out.

Even at the very start of the dissection, the choice of where the first cut slides down would affect this outcome.

When Alaisio thought of this, he had already made peace with himself.

At this moment, yesterday's aviation expert, the in-house expert from Alawi Airlines, the best among aviation experts, Ricado, pressed the speak button and said: "Perhaps it was a mistaken operation that caused the plane crash, the pilot survived luckily, but was burned to death by hot gases."

"In that case, the pilot's face would also have burns. But it is not like now, where hot gases rise from the feet, with no burns above the abdomen, yet the pilot's trachea shows edema—so at that time, he must have been in a small, enclosed space, namely, the cockpit canopy had not yet shattered." After Alaisio received the answer, answering these questions became much easier for him.

Ricado pondered deeply, wrestled for two seconds, then said: "Perhaps, during flight, the pilot suddenly wanted to smoke a cigar, fumbled and dropped it, causing a fire, which then led to the final tragedy. Believe me, I have seen such things in the airline's reports—these pilots, while flying aircraft, do all sorts of things!"

Alaisio was truly shocked by Ricado's whimsical idea for a moment.

The CEO and directors of Alawi Airlines were also mentally shaken.

Stefano turned to Alaisio and asked: "Does this explanation hold up?"

Alaisio pursed his lips: "I am not an aviation expert, but I guess the aircraft wreckage could always prove something—for example, if they found a broken exhaust pipe. And from a forensic pathologist's perspective, I think, based on the severity of the burns on the body, the Chinese forensic pathologist could completely pinpoint the ignition or rupture point; if that point happened to have an exhaust pipe running through it, how would you explain it?"

Ricado: "Did the cigar just happen to fall into that position?"

"And quickly produce high heat?" Alaisio chuckled.

Director Stefano coughed twice: "The exhaust pipe is only a few inches. You say that based on the degree of bodily burns, one must clearly determine the ignition point's location—surely that is too difficult to judge with such precision?"

"It is a bit difficult, but I think, Jiang Yuan... this Chinese forensic pathologist is definitely fine." Alaisio raised the autopsy report in his hand slightly.

The meeting room fell silent, the small avatars representing the video conference participants also fell silent in unison.

(End of chapter)