Русская версияThe flight was a codeshare with Lufthansa and the German carrier
said it was investigating whether German passengers were on the
holiday flight.
The Spanair MD-82 made an emergency landing just after an attempted
take-off from Madrid-Barajas airport heading for Las Palmas in the
Canary Islands, according to an airport authority spokesman.
Spanish media said one engine caught fire as it took off.
Differing reports of casualties
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The end of the Barajas airport runway was an inferno
Smoke billowed from the wreckage of Flight JK 5022 off the bottom
of the runway.
Helicopters dropped water to douse the flames of the
jet and grassfires caused by the crash.
Madrid airport cancelled departures after the crash and restricted
the number of flights arriving.
Regional authorities issued a provisional toll saying there were at
least 45 dead and 40 injured -- making it one of the worst air
disasters in Europe in recent years.
A spokesman said 15 of those injured were in serious condition.
Twenty-five people were lightly injured and 35 had been recorded as
having escaped unharmed.
CNN Plus television news gave a toll of 47 dead.
newspaper said the toll could exceed 100.
A Spanair spokesman told AFP there were 164 passengers and nine
crew on board the MD-82.
SAS, the Scandinavian airline which owns Spanair, said a special
team had been set up in Madrid. "SAS is doing everything possible
to help passengers and next of kin and to assist Spanish
authorities."
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero interrupted his
holiday to go to the scene, his office said.
Spain's second biggest airline in mourning
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The crash was captured on video by an eye-witness
Spanair released a statement confirming the flight was in an
"incident" at Madrid airport but giving no other detail. "Spanair
is doing everything possible to assist the Spanish authorities at
this difficult time," it said.
Spanair is Spain's second biggest airline after Iberia. Five
passengers on a Spanair flight from Spain's Basque region to
Barcelona were injured in an emergency evacuation on January 9,
2006.
The airline was founded in 1986 and says it has carried more than
104 million passengers from about 100 European destinations to
Spain since then. It has a fleet of 65 jets.
It is a member of the Star Alliance network but recently proposed
shedding almost a quarter of its 4,000 staff because of the fuel
price rise crisis and reduced demand.
The airline posted net losses of 41 million euros (62 million
dollars) in the first quarter.
SAS shares plunged 6.41 percent on the Stockholm stock exchange
after the crash. SAS had put Spanair on the block earlier this year
but announced in June that it was abandoning those plans due to the
slowdown in the aviation sector.
(Deutsche Welle)
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