Madrid Airport Horror: 153 Dead
Madrid Air Crash Videos
3:08am UK, Thursday August 21, 2008
A devastating plane crash at Madrid's Barajas airport has left 153 people dead.
Relatives and friends of the crash victims console each other
Just 19 survived the disaster - many of those who died are believed to be tourists and holidaymakers. Twenty children and two babies were on the flight.
Officials in Spain said Spanair Flight JK5022 - bound for Las Palmas - barely made it off the runway before veering into shrubland, breaking up and bursting into flames.
Reporting from Bajaras airport, Sky Correspondent Ian Woods said rescuers faced horrific scenes.
"When you hear the descriptions of what the rescue workers found when they got to the scene of the stricken aircraft, it seems almost incredible that anyone survived a fireball such as this. The focus of the investigation will now be on what exactly happened to that plane in the last few seconds as it reached the end of the runway."
The extent of the tragedy was described by a worker of airport owner AENA who witnessed the disaster. Few people survived the crash
"The plane was totally broken apart, it was all full of bodies," the worker told El Pais newspaper.
Two civil guards returning from the scene of the stricken aircraft told the same newspaper: "It doesn't look anything like a plane - it's horrific - everything is burnt.
"It's the closest to hell that I've seen. The bodies were boiling hot, we burnt ourselves collecting them."
Sky News
Originally Posted by bijou
