149 Killed After Plane Swerves Off Madrid Airport Runway

[Dentafrice]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,406881,00.html

A Spanish airliner burst into flames shortly after take-off in Madrid, leaving only 26 survivors, rescue officials and local media reported.

Spanair flight JK5022, an MD-82, ran off the runway Wednesday shortly after taking off for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Witnesses told Sky News that the plane's left engine caught fire during take-off, causing the aircraft to crash to the ground and break into two pieces.

Their were 173 people on board.

An official with the SAMUR municipal rescue service gave the toll after touring the site of the crash.

The official told the Associated Press the rest of the people on the plane have been given up for dead. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of department rules that barred him from giving his name.

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"Spanair regrets to confirm that its flight number JK 5022, from Madrid to Las Palmas de Gran Canarias was involved in an incident at Madrid, at 14.45 hrs local time today," the airline said in a statement on its Web site. "Spanair is doing everything possible to assist the Spanish authorities at this difficult time, and has established a local help-line number for relatives or friends of those who may have been on board."

At the airport, helicopters and fire trucks poured water on the plane, which ended up in a lower, wooded area at the end of the runway at Terminal 4.

The crash occurred during the plane's second attempt at a taking off. The first was stopped due to technical problems, Sky News reported.

[Decode]

Is it me or are plane crashes becoming more frequent :L

[Jordy]

Is it me or are plane crashes becoming more frequent :L

Well that's two in a week which is two more than usual, I guess there was the Qantas incident not too long ago and a plane came down in Africa a few months ago.

I wouldn't go as far as to say they're becoming more frequent, but there has been a few recently. Aeroplanes are still the safest mode of transport which is probably a annoying phrase by now

[Dentafrice]

Well there was that midair crash the other day ;P

[Leetzgirl]

Airplanes are becoming mangets for crashes now :|

EDIT: i going to be worried when my mates and my girlfriend going on planes now becasue it is becoming more frequent :rolleyes:

[cocaine]

i love how it says the plane swerves off the runway, yet the article says it took off.

& anyway, people are saying 'omg lots of air crashes' - well not really, a panel came loose on a QF flight, as well as their explosive decompression, and a small aircraft collision, and thats about all I've heard..

[Dentafrice]

i love how it says the plane swerves off the runway, yet the article says it took off.

& anyway, people are saying 'omg lots of air crashes' - well not really, a panel came loose on a QF flight, as well as their explosive decompression, and a small aircraft collision, and thats about all I've heard..

I just pasted from FoxNews

I bet it took off, then came down for a landing and slid.

[sock]

r.i.p but like in the quote it says it crashed at las palmes and you say it crashed off dat madrid, supposedly a engine failure/explosion of some sort I heard on BBC.

[Zabuza]

Is it me or are plane crashes becoming more frequent :L

There's tons of plane crashes, just few bigs ones so you never hear about them.
I was watching this on the news, such a shame.
The guy goes "and the pilot stated: there was a problem"

Lol no way?

[xxMATTGxx]

You may think crashes are becoming more frequent. But really they are not. If you think about the 1000's of flights there is everyday around the world. It really isn't that much. Compared to around 15 years ago. Like the above have said, flying is still one of the safest ways of travel. R.I.P to all who and died, such a shame.

r.i.p but like in the quote it says it crashed at las palmes and you say it crashed off dat madrid, supposedly a engine failure/explosion of some sort I heard on BBC.

It doesn't. If you read it again it says it was taking off for that place.