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As mentioned on Pan Am Flight 103:

... In total 4 million pieces of wreckage were collected and registered on computer files. More than 10,000 pieces of debris were retrieved, tagged and entered into a computer tracking system.

This is a bit confusing, at least to me. So which one is the actual number? Or if both sentences are correct, what is the difference between them?

DeltaLima
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belinea
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  • IMO most likely explanation is 2 edits from different times with different sources – ratchet freak Oct 24 '14 at 12:46
  • Any idea which one is correct number? Tried to look thru official report but I can't seem to find the number in there. 10k seems low - perhaps this number describes some pieces that had a specific meaning for the investigation? Or specific type? – belinea Oct 24 '14 at 12:48
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    I believe both numbers are correct. There were millions of pieces of wreckage from the plane as well as the surrounding houses that were destroyed. Everything was collected and examined. Of those ~4 mil pieces of wreckage, something over 10000 pieces of debris were confirmed to be from the plane. – CGCampbell Oct 24 '14 at 13:03
  • This actually makes sense CGCampbell, thanks. In other words then, investigators were able to identify 10k as plane parts but it doesn't mean these were all of them? – belinea Oct 24 '14 at 13:15

1 Answers1

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Pieces of wreckage implies a large 'section' of plane, whereas debris suggests miscellaneous smaller items and bits of metal etc.

I agree it's potentially confusing, however, and likely arises from two people editing the same section without adjusting the context.

I'd say that 4 substantial sections of plane were found, along with a large amount of smaller debris scattered around, totalling around 10,000 pieces.

Jon Story
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  • They must have been feeding from two different sources then. I mean, the 4 million pieces is published on natgeo website (http://www.natgeotv.com/za/air-crash-investigation/lockerbie). But the Lockerbie Bombing wiki page (as opposed to pan am flight 103 wiki page) says 10,000 items. I'm surprised the number is not stated in the raport – belinea Oct 24 '14 at 13:34
  • @belinea, there are potentially dozens of ways to count debris... The question was about the specific sentence on Wikipedia. – Jon Story Oct 24 '14 at 13:39
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    I think you might have missed the "million" in the original quote – raptortech97 Oct 24 '14 at 20:52
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    @JonStory Wikipedia said 4 million pieces of wreckage and 10,000 of debris, and you said wreckage are large pieces and debris is small. So they found 4 million large pieces and 10,000 small ones? – Farhan Oct 25 '14 at 12:34