153 killed in jet crash fireball

Published on Wednesday 20 August 2008 22:46

MORE than 150 people died yesterday as a plane taking off from Madrid crashed, turning into a fireball that scorched the earth for hundreds of metres around the impact site.

The accident happened as the aircraft was making its second attempt to take off for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

Emergency services said 19 of the 172 people aboard Spanair flight JK5022 had survived the disaster at Madrid's Barajas International Airport.

"Only the tail was recognisable. There was wreckage scattered all over the place and dead bodies across a wide area. A lot of them were children," said Herbigio Corral, who headed the rescue effort.

The survivors were thrown from the plane by the force of the impact and landed in a stream, saving them from more severe burns, he said.

The regional government health service said 19 survivors were being treated in hospitals in Madrid. It is thought three children were among those who survived the crash.

Local media last night said eight people had been pulled alive from the wreckage but had later died.

An official at Samur, the Madrid rescue service, said crews were removing bodies and injured people from the plane.

"It is a catastrophe," he said. "They are pulling out burnt corpses. The plane has been completely destroyed."

An emergency rescue worker, Pablo Albella, said: "The scene is devastating. The fuselage is destroyed. The plane burned.

"I have seen a kilometre of charred land and few whole pieces of the fuselage. It is all destruction."

A police officer said the bodies were so hot that emergency workers could barely touch them.

Reports said a fire had broken out in an engine of the 15-year-old MD-82 aircraft, sending it swerving off the runway at 2:45pm local time. It is understood the plane had broken in two, indicating it had already left the ground and then crashed. Weather conditions were good at the time.

The plane was originally due to take off at 1pm, but after leaving its stand for the runway it returned because of a mechanical problem, it was reported last night.

The airport, one of the busiest in Europe, was immediately closed while firefighters,

police and paramedics rushed to the scene. A helicopter was also called in to tackle a series of fires that started around the wreckage. Thick columns of smoke rose into the air, and police blocked off both ends of the new Terminal Four runway.

Dozens of shocked relatives began arriving at Las Palmas airport on Gran Canaria, where they were taken into a room and offered counselling by Red Cross psychiatrists.

Chris Yates, an aviation safety expert at Jane's Transport, said the pilot and co-pilot would have been "acutely aware" of what was going on, as klaxons and fire extinguishers went off. He said the accident appeared to have happened at "the point of no return" during take-off, if not beyond. He added: "One can only imagine the abject horror on the plane."

He said the plane might have had full fuel tanks for its flight to Gran Canaria and, as it crashed on the "tinderbox dry" soil, it and its surroundings would have burst into flames. Panicking passengers, struggling to escape the wreckage because of the intense fire, could have slowed down the evacuation of the plane, he said.

Air investigators will be looking for the black boxes, but Mr Yates warned they could be too badly damaged by fire to provide information.

Juanjo Garcia, 34, an off-duty police inspector, had been due to fly to Gran Canaria at 5pm and arrived at the airport moments after the crash.

Speaking to The Scotsman, he said: "People here are calm, but we don't know what's happening outside. The flights are delayed and we have to wait.

"When I came to the airport I saw smoke and where it was. The incident happened when the plane was taking off and one of the engines stopped working and the pilot managed just to turn the plane into Terminal Four.

"We are just looking at the screens because the flights are going to be delayed," he said. "This is the first, and hopefully the last, incident like this here that I know of."

Alan Gemmell, a Briton who witnessed the aftermath, said: "The whole back end of the plane was just burnt to a crisp."

The flight, which was running an hour late for take-off, was a code-sharing operation with the German airline Lufthansa, serving the popular holiday island.

A spokesperson for Spanair said: "The names of the passengers and crew on board the aircraft will not be released until all next-of-kin have been notified, and a special helpline number has been established for relatives and friends seeking information about those who may have been on board.

"Spanair is doing everything possible to help the Spanish authorities at this difficult time."

Lufthansa said seven passengers with its tickets, four of them from Germany, had checked in for the flight.

"Whether they were actually on board (at the time of the crash] is still not clear," it said. A Canary Islands official said that passengers included Swedes and Dutch.

Sweden's foreign ministry said two Swedes were on the plane. It said one has been located at a hospital and the other is unaccounted for.

This is the worst air disaster in Spain since 1983, when an Avianca Boeing 747 crashed approaching the same airport, killing 181.

Spanair operates some return flights between Britain and Spain, but a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said it was not planning any action domestically following the crash. Action against Spanair would be down to the Spanish or European authorities, he said. The only MD-82s registered in the UK are not currently flown.

The Queen last night said she was "saddened to learn of the dreadful loss of life".

In a message to King Juan Carlos of Spain, she said: "Philip joins me in sending our warm and heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends of those who have died and our best wishes for a speedy recovery to those who have been injured.

"At this difficult time all those affected by this tragedy are in our thoughts and prayers."

A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister was also "deeply sorry" to hear of the loss of life caused by the crash.

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