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Many Feared Dead in Madrid Plane Fire
A Spanish passenger plane crashed on takeoff from Madrid's Barajas International Airport Wednesday.
According to the airport authority and local media reports, the Spainair plane shot off the runway at Terminal 4.
El Mundo newspaper reported that 150 people have died, and another 20 are believed critically wounded.
The newspaper reported that, so far, between 20 and 30 people have been evacuated from the plane, some of them in critical condition. One of the people wounded is now believed to have died on the way to the hospital.
At La Paz hospital in Madrid, the wounded are said to be suffering third-degree burns. A hospital spokesman told ABC News that there were six people admitted to the hospital.
Ambulances are continuing to arrive at that hospital and at the Ramon y Cajal hospital next door with passengers who are seriously wounded.
The government's official figures claim that at least 45 people were killed in the accident. -
'صد کشته در سانحه هوایی فرودگاه مادرید'
لغزش یک فروند هواپیمای مسافربری اسپانیا در فرودگاه بین المللی مادرید به کشته و زخمی شدن دهها نفر منجر شده است.
هواپیمای بوئینگ مک*دونال داگلاس که در اختیار یک شرکت هواپیمایی اسپانیا (اسپن ایر) بود با یکصد و شصت و شش مسافر و شش خدمه قرار بود به سمت گران کاناریا در جزایر قناری پرواز کند. این نوع هواپیماها معمولا در پروازهای کوتاه در داخل اروپا مورد استفاده قرار می گیرد.
گزارش های اولیه حاکی از آن بود که چهل و پنج نفر کشته شده و بیست و پنج نفر دیگر نیز زخمی شده اند. اما گزارش های جدید حاکی از آن است که یکصد نفر کشته شده اند.
خوزه لوئیس رودریگز زاپاته رو، نخست وزیر اسپانیا تعطیلات تابستانی خود در جنوب این کشور را نیمه کاره رها کرد و در محل حادثه حضور یافت.
دود غلیظی محوطه اطراف ترمینال چهار فرودگاه مادرید را فرا گرفته است. هنوز مشخص نیست که دلیل این لغزش چه بوده است اما گزارش برخی رسانه های اسپانیایی حاکی از آن است که یکی از موتورهای هواپیما آتش گرفته است.
این رسانه ها از احتمال افزایش تلفات خبر داده و مقام های وزارت کشور اسپانیا گفته اند که دو نوزاد در میان مسافران حضور داشتند.
دهها آمبولانس در محل حادثه حضور یافته اند و هلیکوپترهای امدادرسان نیز سرگرم کمک هستند.
جزئیات تائید نشده
روزنامه ال پائیس چاپ مادرید نوشته است که این هواپیما که سرگرم پرواز به محلی توریستی بود، پس از سرعت گرفتن در باند فرودگاه با سانحه روبرو شد.
این روزنامه نوشته است که پرواز هواپیما به دلیل برخی مشکلات فنی با تاخیر مواجه شده بود.
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Spanair Plane Crashes in Madrid, Killing More Than 140 People
A Spanair SA MD-82 jetliner broke up and caught fire after skidding off the runway at Madrid's Barajas International airport, killing more than 140 people in Spain's worst aviation accident since 1985.
The single-aisle plane, manufactured by Boeing Co. unit McDonnell Douglas, crashed while attempting to take off for the Canary Islands with 175 passengers and crew on board, said an official from Spanair, a unit of Scandinavian carrier SAS Group.
Television pictures showed a column of smoke billowing from the runway and a helicopter dropping water on the crash site. Dozens of fire engines and police vehicles attended the scene following the accident after 2 p.m. local time.
``This is a horrible accident, a tragedy taking into the account the number of people we fear have died,'' Spanish Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez told reporters today in Madrid. She said 26 people were injured and couldn't confirm whether anybody else survived the crash.
The flight bore the number JK5022 and carried 164 adults, two infants and nine crew members, Spanair Commercial Director Sergio Allard said at a press conference in the capital. The service was also operating as a code-share with Deutsche Lufthansa AG under the flight number LH255. The Cologne, German- based carrier said seven passengers checked in for the flight.
``We were able to save more than 20 people scattered around outside the plane,'' Miguel Angel Perez, fire chief at Barajas airport, told radio station Cadena Ser. ``We found no survivors in the plane.''
15 Years Old
The MD-82 ``broke apart'' after crashing on takeoff, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement, adding that it will assist in the accident probe. The plane was 15 years old, Spanair's Allard said, and had an annual maintenance check on Jan. 24.
Standard & Poor's said in a note that Spanair, which SAS had been trying to sell, probably now has no future and that the parent company may itself face a class action, depending on the outcome of investigations.
``SAS is doing everything possible to help passengers and next-of-kin and to assist Spanish authorities at this difficult time,'' the Stockholm-based company said in a statement.
SAS, which has suffered a series of incidents with its own fleet of Bombardier Inc. Q400 turboprops, fell 6.6 percent to 43.7 kronor. The stock has lost 47 percent this year.
Spanair has 36 MD-80 series aircraft in its fleet, according to the Palma de Majorca-based company's Web site. McDonnell Douglas was bought by Boeing in 1997, with MD-80 production ended in 2000, according to Airliners of the World.
`Technical Assistance'
``Boeing sends its deep condolences to the families and friends of those lost in the crash of Spanair flight 5022, and its wishes for the quick recovery of the injured,'' the Chicago-based company said in a statement. ``We stand ready to provide technical assistance.''
A probe will be carried out by the Spanish Comision de Investigacion de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviacion Civil, or CIAIAC, Boeing said. The NTSB said it will send investigator John Lovell and four technical specialists to Madrid to assist.
The aircraft involved in today's incident was powered by engines manufactured by Hartford, Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney division, Pratt spokesman Matthew Perra said by e-mail.
The airport was closed for takeoffs after the accident before flights resumed at about 4:30 p.m.
The last fatal civilian crash in Spain was in February 1985, when a Boeing 727 crashed on approach to Bilbao airport, according to the Aviation Safety Network. All 148 people on board the aircraft were killed, it said.
Worst Disaster
Spain's worst air disaster killed 583 when two Boeing 747s collided at Tenerife North airport in March 1977. A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines jumbo taking off in fog hit a Pan American World Airways plane taxiing for its own departure. The flights had been diverted from nearby Las Palmas -- where today's Spanair service was headed -- due to a bomb warning and were making their way to that destination when the crash occurred.
Madrid's Barajas airport last suffered a fatal accident in December 1983, when a plane taxied onto the runway in the path of another taking off in heavy fog, killing 93 people. Ten days earlier, a Boeing 747-200 jumbo jet crashed on approach to the airport after hitting a hill, killing 181 of the 192 on board.
Barajas Airport, located about 10 miles north-east of the Spanish capital, is Europe's fourth-biggest airport and attracted 52 million passengers last year. It has expanded in recent years, doubling the number of runways to four and opening a new terminal designed by Richard Rogers.
Three Incidents
SAS's Scandinavian Airlines grounded its Q400s in October after three crash-landings in six weeks involving faults with landing gear. The company said on March 10 it would receive compensation of more than 1 billion kronor ($157 million) from Bombardier and Goodrich Corp., which made the gear.
Some 118 people were killed in October 2001 when an SAS MD-87 was in collision with a light aircraft during takeoff in thick fog at Milan's Linate airport. The SAS jet veered into a baggage-handling building where it burst into flames. Italian newspaper reports suggested the smaller plane had taken a shortcut across the runway.Comment
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153 killed in Madrid airport plane crash
A Spanish jet heading for the Canary Islands crashed on takeoff and burst into flames at Madrid airport on Wednesday, killing 153 of the people on board, the government said.
Smoke billowed up near Terminal Four from the remains of Spanair's Flight JK5022, an MD-82 jet bound for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, which broke into pieces in an accident which Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez said left 19 survivors.
The 15-year-old plane, with 166 passengers and nine crew, shot off the runway at 2:45 p.m. local time (1245 GMT), according to Spanair. The airline put the number of people aboard at a slightly higher figure than government officials.
Witnesses described a huge explosion.
"Only the tail was recognizable, there was wreckage scattered all over the place and dead bodies across a wide area. A lot of them were children," Ervigio Corral, who headed the emergency services' rescue effort, told reporters.
Survivors were flung from the plane by the force of the impact and landed in a stream, saving them from more severe burns, Corral said.
Alvarez said the cause of the accident seemed to be "an error in takeoff". But Spanish media and a source close to the situation said the plane's left engine, made by Pratt & Whitney, had caught fire.
The plane was originally due to take off at 1 p.m., but after moving away from the terminal and approaching the runway it returned because of a mechanical problem, a source close to the situation told Reuters. The source added he did not know what the problem was or what action mechanics took.
The flight was a code-sharing operation with Lufthansa serving the Canary Islands, a popular holiday destination for tourists from throughout Europe.
COLUMNS OF SMOKE
Lufthansa said seven passengers with Lufthansa tickets, four of them from Germany, had checked in for the flight, and a Canary Islands official said passengers included Swedes and Dutch.
Thick columns of smoke rose into the air and police blocked off both ends of the Terminal Four runway, where more than 20 ambulances and many fire engines were stationed.
"I saw how the plane broke in two and a huge explosion," said Manuel Muela, who was driving past the airport when the crash occurred, according to the newspaper El Mundo.
Police escorted tearful relatives of passengers past reporters and dozens of psychologists and social workers arrived at the terminal. Charred corpses were taken to a nearby conference centre to be identified.
"It's a rollercoaster of emotions," said a relative of one survivor, who told La Ser radio his name was Ricardo. "Also you feel powerless because the airline doesn't provide any information at all."
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero interrupted his holidays in southern Spain to fly to the crash scene, where he promised a thorough investigation into the causes of the crash.
"The government is deeply saddened, as are all Spaniards," Zapatero told reporters.
The Spanish Olympic Committee said the Spanish flag would fly at half mast in the Olympic village in Beijing. Spain's national soccer team wore black armbands and stood for a minute's silence at a friendly match with Denmark.
The crash appeared to be Spain's worst since 1983, when an Avianca Boeing 747 crashed approaching the same airport, killing 181.
Spanair, owned by Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS), has been struggling with high fuel prices and tough competition. It announced it was laying off 1,062 staff and cutting routes after losing $81 million in the first half of the year.
Hours before the crash, Spanair's pilots threatened to strike. SAS has been trying to sell Spanair since last year.
The MD-82 is a medium-range single-aisle plane, popular with regional airlines. It is a member of the MD-80 family of planes made by U.S. manufacturer Boeing Co.
American Airlines had to cancel 3,000 flights earlier this year after U.S. authorities ordered them to ground MD-80 series planes to check their wiring.
Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997, and the last of the MD-80 family rolled off its production line in 1999.Comment
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Spain grieves for Madrid victims
Spain is grieving for the 153 victims of Madrid's plane crash, as experts begin to look into why the jet crashed and burnt shortly after take-off.
The country's prime minister has visited some of the 19 survivors, while King Juan Carlos met relatives of the victims at a makeshift mortuary.
Three days of mourning have been declared and flags are at half-mast.
Of the survivors of the Spanair flight JK 5022 crash on Wednesday, several remain critically ill.
Four are in a "very serious" condition, with another listed as "serious", Spanish media reported. But five of six people classed as "serious" overnight have shown signs of improvement, the Efe news agency said.
The body of a baby and an adult, the two final victims of the crash, were pulled from the burnt-out wreckage of the plane on Thursday.
Two babies and 20 children were on board the flight, which was heading from Madrid to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, according to Spanair, which released the official passenger manifest.
Spanair bosses expressed their shock and sadness at the crash, telling a news conference in Madrid that the focus of their energies would now be on helping the survivors and the relatives of those killed.
Spanair and its Scandinavian owner, SAS, were putting "all resources" into supporting those affected by the disaster, Spanair chief Marcus Hedblom said.
"We are committed to continue to give that support for a long, long time from now," he added.
At a temporary mortuary at a conference centre close to Madrid's Barajas airport, emotions among those waiting for confirmation of their loss were running high.
The BBC's Steve Kingstone, in Madrid, says many of the relatives have expressed anger and disgust at Spanair, blaming the company for the accident.
The injured include a young brother and sister, who immediately asked rescue workers about their parents, our correspondent adds.
Experts say work to identify the dead is likely to be slow and painstaking, as many of the bodies were badly burnt in Wednesday's inferno.
El Mundo newspaper reported that 38 corpses had been identified by Thursday afternoon, with a team of 40 forensic analysts expected to complete the rest of the identifications within 48 hours.
"The worst is the identification of the bodies," Red Cross spokesman Jesus Lopez Santana told the El Mundo newspaper.
"It is the end of all hope and [it is] when we see the worst scenes, because the majority of the relatives break down when they hear the news."
Engine theory
The Spanair flight, bound for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, took off on Wednesday at lunchtime with 172 people on board, among them 10 crew.
Initial reports suggested a fire had broken out in one of the MD82 plane's engines during or shortly after take-off, and the plane ended up in a field.
Spanish Transport Minister Magdalena Alvarez said the plane had earlier begun taxiing to the runway, before turning back because of a technical problem, which had caused an hour's delay in take-off.
Spanish media said the pilots had reported a fault with a temperature gauge, but it was thought to have been fixed before take-off.
Speaking on Thursday, Ms Alvarez said a thorough investigation would be carried out, with a full examination of the flight recorders and available pictures, but that it was very early to draw conclusions about the crash.
A special independent commission has been established to investigate the cause of the crash, Spanish media reported.
The plane which crashed was a 15-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD82 plane previously owned and operated by Korean Air.
Reports said it was serviced regularly and had been pronounced fit to fly.
The MD82 is known as a versatile and reliable aircraft, with some 432 planes currently in service around the world, Spain's EFE news agency said.Comment
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There were only 19 survivors of Wednesday's air crash at Madrid's Barajas Airport which claimed the lives of 153 people.
Here a survivor and others at the scene give their astonishing account of the last few minutes of the Spanair flight and the devastating aftermath of the disaster.
SURVIVOR LIGIA PALOMINO
Ligia Palomino, a 41-year-old doctor, was one of the 19 survivors of Spanair flight JK 5022.
"The plane was rocking from one side to another. Then I began to suspect we would crash. I don't know what happened next. I saw people, smoke, explosions - I think that is what woke me up because I had lost consciousness.
"I lifted my head and all I saw were scattered bodies. I thought that if help did not arrive soon I would die."
FIREFIGHTER FRANCISCO ALVAREZ
Out of the 22 children on the flight, only three survived. Firefighter Francisco Alvarez was able to save one of the youngsters.
"I took one of the children into the lorry and he thought he was in a film. He asked: 'When will this film end?', and 'Where is my dad?' He asked if it was true, if he was in a film, but he wanted the film to end."
TRAVELLER ERTOMA BOLANOS
Ertoma Bolanos and his girlfriend Almudena, both 26, arrived at the airport a few minutes late, but it was enough to keep them off the doomed plane.
They learned of the disaster when Almudena's family called to say they had seen footage on television.
"Today is another birthday. We arrived three minutes late and they let us check in, but we did not make it [to the departure gate].
"We ended up trying to find a new flight. Then we discovered the plane we would have been on had crashed. We had no idea what had happened. My mouth dropped open.
"We have to fly to the Canary Islands - we're from there. You're not going to believe it, but we are going to fly again with Spanair."Comment
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The death toll from Wednesday's crash of a Spanair passenger jet at Madrid airport rose to 154 on Saturday following the death of a badly burnt 31-year-old woman, state news agency EFE reported.
Another 18 survivors are still being treated in hospital following the crash when the MD-82 jet crashed on take-off for a flight to the Canary Islands.
The Spanish government has promised a comprehensive investigation into the causes of the crash, Spain's worst aviation disaster since 1983.
The woman who died on Saturday was named as Maria Luisa Estevez.Comment
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Madrid plane crash: Passenger 'forced to stay on disaster flight'
Nearly two hours before the ill-fated Spanair flight crashed in a fireball, killing 153 people, Ruben Santana Mateo sent a text message reading: "My love, there's a problem with the plane."
His wife Maria rang him and told him to leave the plane but he is said to have told her "They won't let me off" and that cabin crew had made him get back in his seat. He died in the crash.
The passenger's son, also called Ruben, said: "My mother called him and said that he should get off but my father said they would not let him."
The accusation that Spanair refused to let a passenger off the flight came as the airline defended its decision to allow Flight JK5022 to make a second attempt at take-off after the first was aborted.
There was an intake of air through a valve in the cockpit which forced the pilot to return to the gate and have maintenance work done.
Spanair said that fault had been successfully fixed by turning off the valve. The company said it could not be the cause of the fire in the plane's left engine which led to it crashing on the second attempted take-off.
But Madrid flight controller Javier Fernandez Garcia said other problems had kept the plane grounded on two previous occasions.
Harrowing details emerged of the aftermath of the crash including that a mother gave her own life so that her 11-year-old daughter could be rescued.
Amalia Filloy was with her daughter Maria, 11, when a firefighter reached them in the burning wreckage.
Mrs Filloy begged the firefighter "Please take my daughter, rescue my daughter".
The fireman, Francisco Martinez, said: "I was deeply affected to learn that she died and had given her life for her daughter."
Maria Filloy was one of three children who survived the disaster, all of them rescued by the heroic Mr Martinez.
He said: "I took one child into the truck and he thought he was in a film. He asked 'When will this film end?' and 'Where is my dad?'
"He thought he was in a film and he wanted the film to end."
As the plane hit the ground shortly after take-off, some of the 19 people who survived the disaster were flung into the air and landed in a nearby stream, which saved them from being burned alive in the wreckage.
The youngest survivor, Roberto Alvarez Carretero, six, is unconscious in intensive care after suffering severe head and facial injuries but doctors believe he will live. His sister Maria, 16, who was sat next to him, is believed to be dead.
Incredibly, eight-year-old Alfredo Jesus Acosta Mendiola also survived. Rescue workers found him suffering only from a broken leg and crying out for his mother and father amid a scene of horror.
His Colombian-born father Alfredo Acosta Sierra, 60, died in the crash and his mother Gregoria Mendiola Rodriguez, 45, is fighting for her life in a coma.
A female airport worker said: "Alfredo was incredibly together when we found him. He was complaining about some pain but what most worried him was finding his parents."
The third child to survive was Maria Alonso Filloy, 11. She also suffered just a broken leg. Her mother Amalia was believed to be among the dead, but her father Jose survived.
Other survivors gave vivid accounts of how they escaped Europe's worst air disaster for decades.
Ligia Palomino, 41, a doctor with Madrid's ambulance service, was rescued by her own colleagues who wept as they treated her amidst the wreckage and charred corpses.
Mrs Palomino suffered a broken hip, burns and cuts to her face.
She said: "When we took off I heard a horrible noise and the next thing I remember was being flung from the aircraft. I lifted my head and all I saw were scattered bodies."
Another survivor, Beatriz Reyes Ojeda, was able to walk away from the carnage.
She said: "I remember noticing there was something wrong with the plane. Then I remember lifting my head up and the plane had no roof."
The captain Antonio Luna, 38, from Majorca, was confirmed among the dead. His co-pilot Francisco Javier Mulet, 32, who also died, had been due to get married in a couple of months.
Both had broken arms suggesting they wrestled with the controls until the last second.
One Spanish couple were saved because they missed the flight by three minutes.
Experts said the cause of the crash was the as yet unexplained engine fire which could have caused shrapnel to erupt into the fuselage, fatally damaging aviation systems.
The accident happened as Majorca-based Spanair, a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines Systems, suffers one of the most difficult years in its 22-year history, with pilots threatening to strike over job cuts just hours before the crash.
One Spanair source said that crew members have been "exhausted" for months, as budget cuts at the airline took their effect.
The source said: "We are working 15 hours a day, five days a week, sometimes six flights a day. It is right on limit of the law and we are very tired."
Airport sources told The Daily Telegraph last night that of the two flight data recorders recovered from the wreckage, one was severely damaged but the other in excellent condition.Comment
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Madrid air crash rises to 154
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