After takeoff the plane reached an altitude of when the rear hatch cover blew off. The flight was over Coulommiers, France at the time. A rapid decompression caused the last two rows of seats to be sucked through a large hole in the plane. There were six passengers in the seats who were killed when they fell into a field in St. Pathus. The plane remained in the air another 90 seconds while the pilots tried to regain control. It hit the ground at about killing the remaining 340 people onboard. The plane almost completely disintegrated leaving only 40 bodies that were intact.