Only 23 people have escaped alive after a plane carrying 173 people burst into flames shortly after taking off from Madrid's airport, a rescue official has said.
Spanish emergency services have been taking the injured to hospital
There are fears that the remaining 150 on board may have perished inside the fuselage after it landed burning off the side of a runway at Barajas airport.
The extent of the tragedy was described by a worker of airport owner AENA who witnessed the disaster.
"The plane was totally broken apart, it was all full of bodies," the worker told El Pais newspaper.
Two civil guards returning from the scene of the stricken aircraft told the same newspaper: "It doesn't look anything like a plane - it's horrific - everything is burnt.
"It's the closest to hell that I've seen. The bodies were boiling, we burnt ourselves collecting them."
Click here to read the latest breaking news on the accident.
Firefighters have now put out the flames after a column of smoke was seen rising over the Barajas airport.
Reports say the accident happened as the craft was taking off from the airport's Terminal Four, bound for Gran Canaria.
Witnesses said the plane's left engine caught fire during take-off, causing the aircraft to crash to the ground and break into two parts.
El Pais reported that the disaster occurred during a second attempt at take off.
An earlier attempt had to be averted after technical issues, which resulted in an inspection of the plane.
Madrid Crash
There were 173 people on board the Spanair MD-82 plane, 164 passengers and nine crew members.
Spanair Flight JK-5022 was bound for Las Palmas in the
Canary Islands, a resort off West Africa, the company said.
The plane was a shared-code flight with Lufthansa's LH-255, it added.
The names of the passengers and crew on board the aircraft will not be released until all next-of-kin has been notified.
A special help-line number has been established for relatives and friends seeking information about those who may have been on board. The number is +34 800 400 200.
View Larger Map
Local journalist Bill Bond said Spanair was a major Spanish airline that has been running for 20 years.
"It flies throughout Spain and internationally and has a good accident record," he said.
However, the
MD-80 series does not have a great safety record.
Aviation expert Professor Joseph Lampel has told Sky News: "It appears at the moment to have been some sort of engine problem.
"It's rare, but not unheard of. The focus will now be on engine maintenance."
Malcolm Ginsberg, editor of Air and Business Travel, said: "It appears to have been a normal sort of day, so I can only imagine there must have been some sort of mechanical problem."
Copied from :
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wor...rport%2BRunway
Madrid Air Disaster
