News & Politics - 149 dead in plane crash at Madrid airport

mokis · 08-20-2008, 11:48 AM

Quote:

MADRID, Spain - A Spanish airliner bound for the Canary Islands crashed, burned and broke into pieces Wednesday while trying to take off from Madrid's Barajas airport, killing 149 people on board, officials said.
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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.

"I have never seen anything like this in my life," ambulance driver Luis Ferreras was quoted as saying by El Pais.

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 immmediately 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.

Helicopters and fire trucks dumped water on the plane, which ended up in a wooded area at the end of the runway at Terminal 4.

A makeshift morgue was set up at the city's main convention center, officials said.

The plane was an Boeing MD-82 on a codeshare flight to Las Palmas with Lufthansa's LH255, Spanair said. Departures from Madrid's airport were suspended for several hours but later resumed.

Boeing spokesman Jim Proulx said the company would send at least one person to assist in the investigation of the crash as soon as it receives an invitation from Spanish authorities.

"We stand ready to provide technical assistance," he said, reading from a prepared statement.

There are two newborns between the victims. There weren't so many victims in an accident or terrorist attack in Spain since 3/11 2004

**TheAngel** · 08-20-2008, 02:16 PM

That's so sad. I really feel sorry for the victims and their families but it's a blessing that there were any survivors at all since plane crashes are normally so horrific. My thoughts are with them all. I hope this prompts airline companies to take a closer look at technical problems and not clear airplanes that are unfit to fly simply because they want to keep on schedule.

Maybe_Tomorrow · 08-20-2008, 02:50 PM

This is so tradgic. And it's peak holiday season, i dread to think how many children and families were on that flight. My heart goes out to all the people involved.

mokis · 08-20-2008, 03:06 PM

At 11:00 pm, number of victims has raised to 153 and 19 survivors. It's known now that 22 children were in the plane but media has not said if they're dead or alive. Of this 22, two were babies.

**sunnykerr** · 08-20-2008, 05:58 PM

This is just horrendous.

**vc318** · 08-20-2008, 08:47 PM

Such a sad story. This is why I refuse to fly.

**sunnykerr** · 08-21-2008, 05:59 AM

Well, it is sort of inevitable that airborn disasters would carry a much heavier toll than, say, road accidents. With the occasional pile-up being the rare exception, there are usually far fewer casualties in road tragedies.

I don't know. I'm not afraid of flying myself. My bigger "doom by mode of transportation" fear is more ferry/boat related. I'm just not the world's greatest swimmer.

welshgirlyUK · 08-21-2008, 12:44 PM

This is so horrific, the images made me want to cry.

Flying doesn't scare me at all, i find cars a far more dangerous transport.

**sunnykerr** · 08-21-2008, 06:42 PM

It was all over the evening news over here. Aviation's a big industry, and this is Boeing we're talking about. So I guess the whole world is gonan be looking into what the hell when wrong with that plane...

**TheAngel** · 08-21-2008, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vc318 (View Post)

Such a sad story. This is why I refuse to fly.

Given the fact that you're more likely to be killed in an automobile accident than a plane crash, it's actually a safer mode of transportation. However, the plane crashes have a much larger toll in a single event so it always seems worse. It happens rarely though, which is a blessing, and considering how many planes fly every day is a miraculous thing as well.

**vc318** · 08-22-2008, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAngel (View Post)

Given the fact that you're more likely to be killed in an automobile accident than a plane crash, it's actually a safer mode of transportation. However, the plane crashes have a much larger toll in a single event so it always seems worse. It happens rarely though, which is a blessing, and considering how many planes fly every day is a miraculous thing as well.

I think it's the fact that pilots have control over your life the moment they take off. Who knows if they're flying drunk, on drugs, or worse - were given a week's notice and are destined to bring down the plane. Whatever the reason was for this plane going down, I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been. I heard that a memorial was held and that thousands of people were there. It's truly remarkable that there were any survivors at all.

Leneoth · 08-23-2008, 10:17 AM

How sad!

mokis · 08-23-2008, 12:52 PM

One of the survivors has died today due to the severe burnts. They have already identified 55 bodies but there are still 30 to identify. For some of them it seems it will take a whole month to be identified. Three other survivors are hanging between death and life.

**sunnykerr** · 08-24-2008, 07:26 PM

From what I understand, and I could be wrong, but most of the survivors made it through because, when the plane broke apart, they fell in some water, which protected them when the plane's fuel proceeded to catch fire.

As grisly as what I'm about to say may seem, it makes sense to me that it would be hard to identify victims if the majority of them died in that inferno.

This is all just so horrendous.

mokis · 08-25-2008, 11:40 AM

^One police officer said that at first they couldn't touch the bodies because they were really hot and burnt.

It's very sad.... but what it's saddest it's that Spanair says they didn't do anything wrong... when yesterday another one of their planes had a mechanical failure.