153 killed in Madrid airport plane crash
MADRID (Reuters) – 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.
Funerary vehicles arrive to deliver the bodies of dead passengers at Madrid’s IFEMA fairgrounds August 20, 2008.
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.
Read full story here.
