At least 153 people killed in Spanair plane accident
By James Parkes
THE COSTA Blanca is joining the rest of Spain in a three-day official mourning decreed by the government for the victims of the Spanair plane crash at Madrid Barajas airport on Wednesday.
At least 153 people died and the rest were seriously injured when the MD-82 aircraft that took off from Madrid Barajas caught fire and crashed near the runway at 14.45 on Wednesday.
Initial investigations say there was a problem with the left engine during take-off causing the crash and leaving passengers trapped inside.
The Spanair JK 5022 flight was set to fly to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and was operating in conjunction with German company Lufthansa.
According to the company there were 162 passengers onboard plus 10 crew members. Only 26 were rescued alive but several died within the following hours. At the time of going to press 19 surviving passengers were recovering in hospital.
During the tree-day mourning, all Spanish flags at official buildings will be flying at half-mast. A petition to do the same at the Beijing Olympics was denied by the IOC.
Minutes of silence were held at the majority of town halls throughout the country yesterday (Thursday) and funerals are due to take place over the weekend as soon as the bodies are identified.
Eleven fire engines rushed to extinguish the blaze and a tanker helicopter was called in as fuel caught fire and spread the flames around the scrubland. More than 200 paramedics, 170 local policemen and 70 firemen were deployed at the scene.
The fire was finally extinguished at 16.30, but when fire-fighters and paramedics were able to access the inside of the plane, the scene was horrifying. “There were charred bodies everywhere,” said one witness, “it’s a miracle anyone was found alive.”Both PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Madrid mayor Alberto Ruiz Gallardón went to Barajas airport when news of the accident broke out.
All air traffic was suspended at Madrid Barajas until 16.00 and Guardia Civil blocked all road access to the new Terminal 4.
Following the same protocol used for the 11-M train bombings, Madrid city hall prepared a pavilion at the Ifema exhibition centre as a makeshift morgue where all bodies were taken and family members are gradually arriving to identify them.
FIRST IN 25 YEARS
The Spanair accident is the first at Madrid Barajas since December 1983, when 101 people died as an Iberia B-727 collided with an Aviaco DC-9 on the runway. Forty-two passengers on the Iberia aircraft survived.
Spain’s worst aircraft accident occurred in March 1977 at Los Rodeos airport in Tenerife. A total of 612 people died when two jumbos – one KLM and one Pam Am – collided head-on on the runway.
The tourism trade, especially air travel companies, now fear an avalanche of cancellations as the fear of flying increases ten-fold after such accidents say psychiatrists.
Already hit severely by the increase in fuel prices and the general economic crisis, many companies see this as the last drop in a true Annus Horribilis for civil aviation.
Spanair itself is currently suffering its worst period since it was launched in 1986.
Owned by Scandinavian SAS airline group, last week the company presented a scheme to make 1,192 employees redundant (a third of its staff) after it was forced to cut back its number of bases to just Madrid, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca in the face of serious financial problems.
The co-pilot, Francisco Javier Mulet, who died in the accident, was on the redundancy list.
The MD-82 was purchased by Spanair from Korean Air and flew for the first time in 1993. It was completely checked on January 24 and no incidents had been reported since.
Initial reports say the aircraft aborted a first take-off before reaching the runway and returned to the terminal when the pilot saw a temperature warning, which technicians say had nothing to do with the accident suffered later.
CHAOS AT ALICANTE
The knock-on effect of the accident and temporary closure of Madrid Barajas also caused chaos at El Altet airport.
At least eight flights to Madrid were affected, one of which had to be cancelled. Spanair’s only flight to Madrid, scheduled at 19.25, was delayed by more than two hours.
Passengers complained of the lack of information at Alicante where panels, despite news of the accident being widespread, continued to display flights ‘On Time’. The majority of passengers from Alicante were due to link with flights to other destinations at Madrid and lost their connections.
Spanair has suffered two minor incidents at El Altet in the past four years, on both occasions the aircraft had to return to Alicante shortly after take-off due to engine problems, but no one was hurt.
jparkes@cbnews.es
Happy members of Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren team catch up on the latest local news before the tough work begins at the Valencia street circuit, set to host the European Grand Prix this weekend.
Photo by Joanna Cruickshank
