Plane Crash in Madrid, Spain
(20 Aug 2008)

Madrid (21 Aug 2008, 0600 hrs GMT): A Spanish jet carrying 166 passengers and six flight crew members crashed at the Barajas Airport in Madrid yesterday at around 1245 GMT, killing 153 people on board. The jet, bound for Las Palmas in Canary Islands, skidded off the runway during take off and crashed into a nearby open field. Initial investigations ruled out any terrorist involvement in the incident and speculated a technical failure as the prime cause.

According to eye witnesses, the MD-82 Jet broke into pieces as a result of the crash and billow of fire and smoke was seen at the site immediately after the incident. Yesterday's crash in Madrid, the worst ever plane crash Spain has witnessed since 1963, left 19 survivors, Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez said in a joint press conference in the airport with Spain's Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, the mayor of Madrid Alberto Ruiz Gallardon.

Spanair's Flight JK5022 was trying to take off from Terminal Four of Barajas Airport, twelve kilometers away from the heart of the city, when the mishap took place. Relatives of passengers thronged the airport immediately afterwards, even as the security personnel flung into action at the accident site. Emergency vehicles and helicopters surrounded the accident site in a short while to rescue the survivors. Panicky scenes were also seen at the destination airport in Las Palmas in Canary Islands.

Dead bodies were carried over to Madrid's IFEMA fairgrounds in funerary vehicles where they were buried after religious rites.