149 Confirmed Dead in Airline Accident at Madrid Airport
A plane bound for the Canary Islands swerved off the runway during takeoff from the Madrid airport earlier today and caught fire, according to Spain‘s national airport authority. Local media has reported that 149 passengers were killed in the crash.
From the Associated Press:
There were only 26 survivors in the mid-afternoon crash, a Spanish emergency official said.
A police officer said the bodies were so hot that police could barely touch them and told El Pais newspaper the shattered wreckage bore no resemblance to a plane.
Dozens of ambulances rushed to the site as columns of smoke billowed from the wreckage. The prime minister broke off his vacation in southern Spain and rushed back to Madrid, heading straight for the airport.
A Spanish emergency rescue official said only 26 people survived the crash and the rest of those aboard were given up for dead. The official with the SAMUR municipal rescue service gave the toll after touring the site of the crash. He spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of department rules that barred him from giving his name.
Spanair Flight JK5022 — bound for the popular Canary Islands off the West African coast during the height of Europe’s summer vacation season — sped off the end of the runway, crashed and broke into pieces, reports said.
Spanair spokesman Sergio Allard told a news conference the plane was carrying 175 people and the cause of the crash was not immediately known.
El Pais said the plane’s takeoff had been an hour late due to technical problems. It eventually managed to get slightly off the ground but crashed near the end of the runway, El Pais said, quoting an employee of the national airport authority AENA.
Tags: AENA, Airline Crash, Airport, Canary Islands, El Pais, JK5022, Las Palmas, Madrid, Plane Crash, SAMUR, Sergio Allard, Spanair, Spanair Flight, Spanish Emergency
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