Spain mourns as air disaster probe continues

Investigators continue to probe cause of air disaster at Madrid's Barajas Airport

MD-82 crashed while taking off, killing 153 people; 19 people survived

(CNN) -- Spain declared three days of mourning Thursday as investigators continued probing what caused a passenger jet to crash on takeoff in Madrid, killing 153 people.

Passengers said they saw flames and then heard an explosion moments before Spanair Flight JK5022, carrying 172 people, crashed at Madrid's Barajas Airport Wednesday afternoon.

There were 19 survivors, including two infants, Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez said. All were being treated at a hospital, Alvaraez said. Watch as the wounded arrive at a hospital »

Speculation Thursday centered on a plane part that had to be fixed after the flight first tried to take off.

Javier Mendoza, a spokesman for Spanair, said that the plane had overheating problems with its air intake valve, located beneath the cockpit, during its initial takeoff, in comments reported by The Associated Press.

The flight had originally been scheduled to depart at 1 p.m. local time.

The plane returned to the gate and the valve was fixed by technicians turning it off, said Mendoza, explaining that this was standard procedure.

He added that it was uncertain whether the valve was linked to the subsequent crash.

The United States National Transportation Safety Board is sending an investigation team to Madrid because the aircraft, a twin-engined MD-82, is American-made, NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said.

In Madrid, where mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon called for three days of mourning beginning, thousands observed a five-minute silence at 12 p.m. local time Thursday.

The city of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands -- where the plane was headed -- also has declared three days of mourning.

The Spanish flag at the Olympics has flown at half mast, while the Spanish football team wore black armbands for its friendly match against Denmark last night.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero cut short a vacation to arrive at the airport Wednesday evening to speak to families of the victims and offer his condolences.

"The government will do all it can to support the families in this difficult situation," he said. "The whole government, logically, is affected, very affected, as are all Spanish citizens, by this tragedy." Watch as relatives of survivors start arriving at the airport »

The flight was bound for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, two hours away, when it left the runway.

Local officials said one of the plane's two engines caught fire before it came to rest in a gully about 2:45 p.m. local time.

The crash sent up a plume of smoke visible from several kilometers away. At the time of the crash, weather conditions were hot and clear.

A survivor told Spain's ABC newspaper that she and other passengers heard an explosion as the plane was taking off.

"She said they could see the fire, ... and then it was not even a minute or so they heard [something] blow up," reporter Carlota Fomina told CNN. "They were about 200 meters [660 feet] in the air, and then they were landing but not crashing. They were landing, like, little by little; it was not like they [fell] down suddenly." Watch smoke rising from airport »

The plane was carrying 162 passengers, four non-working crew members and six working crew members, Spanair said. After contacting families, the airline published the names of those aboard on its Web site.

The aircraft was carrying seven passengers from Lufthansa Flight 2554, according to the airline. Spanair, a low-cost airline that has a flight-sharing agreement with Lufthansa, is owned by SAS Scandinavian Airlines.

Barajas Airport closed after the crash but reopened more than two hours later, allowing a limited number of takeoffs and landings, an airport official said. See a map of the airport »

Barajas airport, eight miles (13 km) northeast of central Madrid, is Spain's busiest, handling more than 40 million passengers a year.

In December 2006, two men died after a bomb attack at the airport which the Spanish government blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA.

The fatal crash was the first at the airport since December 1983, when 93 people were killed as two Spanish airliners collided.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/21/plane.crash.madrid/index.html

Fonte: Flight Safety Information 21/08/2008.