Plane Crashes on Takeoff in Madrid

Death Toll Put at More Than 150 in Worst European Aviation Disaster Since 1988

BERLIN, Aug. 20 -- A Spanish passenger jet aborted its takeoff, skidded off the runway and exploded into flames at Madrid's Barajas airport Wednesday. Government officials put the death toll at more than 150, making it Europe's worst airplane disaster in two decades.

Spanair Flight 5022 was packed with vacationers bound for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, normally a three-hour flight. After a 90-minute delay, the MD-82 single-aisle aircraft, with 172 passengers and crew, tried to take off about 2:45 p.m. But it barely cleared the ground before crashing at the end of the runway and breaking into pieces, officials and witnesses said.

Large clouds of white smoke billowed from the debris for hours. "Only the tail was recognizable. There was wreckage scattered all over the place and dead bodies across a wide area," Herbigio Corral, a rescue services supervisor, told reporters. "A lot of them were children."

Development Minister Magdalena Álvarez said that only 19 people had survived and that many of those were in critical condition with severe burns. Spanair said the plane was carrying 162 passengers and 10 crew members.

The cause remained under investigation. Álvarez, whose agency oversees civil aviation, said the accident had been triggered by "an error in takeoff." Some witnesses said the plane's left engine had caught fire.

"During the takeoff there was clearly a problem, and the plane fell to the ground," rescue worker Fernando Fereras told journalists at the scene.

Spanish officials said the plane's takeoff had been delayed for 90 minutes because of "technical problems," but did not give specific details. Skies were clear at the airport Wednesday afternoon, with temperatures in the mid-80s.

Television footage showed people being taken from the wreckage on stretchers. The smoldering jet came to a stop in a dry, grassy area beyond the runway. Helicopters dumped water on the area to prevent the spread of fire.

A temporary morgue had been set up at Madrid's convention center, officials said.

Spanair, a low-cost carrier with a hub in Madrid, is owned by Scandinavian Airlines, also known as SAS. Wednesday's flight was a code share with the German carrier Lufthansa.

The crash was believed to have been the deadliest aviation incident in Europe since Pan Am Flight 103 was blown apart by a bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, killing 270 people.

The worst airplane disaster in Spanish history came on March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747 airliners crashed on a runway in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people.

The MD-82 that crashed Wednesday passed a major inspection on Jan. 24, airline executive Sergio Allard said at a news conference in Madrid. He said there had been no reports of "irregularities" since then.

The plane was built in 1993 by U.S. manufacturer McDonnell Douglas. A spokesman for Boeing, which acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997, said the firm would assist in the investigation.

Staff researcher Robert E. Thomason in Washington contributed to this report.