Jetliner Crashes In Spain; At Least 153 Feared Dead

A jetliner heading to the popular Canary Islands vacation resort crashed during takeoff Wednesday, turning a wooded area off the end of a runway into a nightmarish scene of charred bodies and smoldering wreckage. About 153 were believed dead in Spain's worst air disaster in nearly 25 years.

Only 19 people survived the midafternoon crash of the Spanair MD-82 at Madrid's Barajas International Airport, and some were in critical condition, said Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez, whose department oversees civil aviation in Spain.

The airline did not release a death toll but said the plane carried 172 crew members and passengers, including two babies and 20 other youngsters. There was no word on how many children died.

As smoke billowed from the wreckage, dozens of firetrucks and ambulances rushed to help, lining a nearby road and filling a field next to a swath of charred vegetation. Helicopters flew overhead, dumping water on fires.

"The scene is devastating," said Pablo Albella, an emergency rescue worker. "The fuselage is destroyed. The plane burned. I have seen a kilometer of charred land and few whole pieces of the fuselage. It is all destruction."

Rescuers rushed the few survivors to hospitals while emergency workers shrouded the dead in white sheets. One body lay on burned grass, an arm and a leg poking out.

Later, a long convoy of black hearses rolled onto the airport grounds to carry bodies to a makeshift morgue set up at Madrid's main convention center.

A steady stream of hearses arrived at the morgue.

What had gone wrong was not clear. Alvarez said the jetliner had barely gotten airborne when it veered right, crashed and broke into pieces.

Spanair, a Spanish company wholly owned by Scandinavian Airlines, said it did not know what caused the accident.

Alvarez said investigators had ruled out foul play and considered the crash an accident. She also said the plane's flight data recorders had been recovered.

While preparing for a first takeoff attempt, the plane's pilot reported a breakdown in a gauge that measures temperature outside the plane.

The gauge was fixed, delaying the departure, Spanair spokeswoman Susana Vergara said. It was on the second takeoff attempt that the airliner crashed.

Spanair Flight JK5022 originated in Barcelona and was headed for Las Palmas.