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Plane slips off runway in Madrid Many dead in Madrid plane crash
(about 6 hours later)
A passenger plane has skidded off the runway on takeoff at Madrid airport, local media report. More than 140 people are feared dead after a passenger plane swerved off the runway at Madrid's Barajas airport.
Casualties are feared, Spanish media say, with reports saying the aircraft belonged to the Spanair airline. A spokesman for the Spanish emergency services, Herbigio Corral, said only 28 people survived the crash.
Spain's El Mundo newspaper reported on its website that some 160 people were on board at the time. The Spanair flight had just taken off for the Canary Islands, at about 1430 local time (1230 GMT). It is thought that the left engine caught fire.
The cause of the apparent accident remains unknown. Helicopters were called in to dump water on to the plane, and dozens of ambulances went to the scene.
name="story"> TV footage later showed several people being carried away on stretchers. class="bodl" href="#map">See satellite image of airport
Are you in the area of the crash? Do you have any information you would like to share? Send us your comments using the form below. The BBC's Steve Kingstone, in Madrid, says planes have begun to take off from the airport, but a grim line of emergency vehicles obscured the view of the crash scene.
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> class="" href="/1/hi/in_pictures/7573158.stm">In pictures: Plane crash class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/7573030.stm">Eyewitness account Earlier, BBC journalist Stephanie McGovern, who is at the airport, said she had seen more than 70 ambulances leaving the scene.
Spanish journalist Manuel Moleno, who was near the area when the accident happened, said the plane appeared to have "crashed into pieces".
"We heard a big crash. So we stopped and we saw a lot of smoke," he said.
Mr Moleno said he had seen as many as 20 people walking away from the wreckage.
'Good safety record'
The plane, which was destined for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, came down during or shortly after take-off from Terminal Four at Barajas.
TV footage showed that the plane had come to rest in fields near the airport.
Spanair issued a statement saying that flight number JK 5022 had been involved in an accident at 1445 local time. The airline's parent company, Scandinavian firm SAS, later said the accident happened at 1423.
SPAIN'S WORST CRASHES 27 March 1977583 people die in Los Rodeos, Tenerife, after two Boeing 747s collide - one Pan Am, one KLM.23 April 1980146 people die near Los Rodeos, Tenerife, as a Dan Air Boeing 727 crashes while attempting to land.27 November 1983181 people die, 11 survive, as an Avianca Boeing 747 crashes in the village of Mejorada del Campo, near Madrid, on its way to Barajas aiport.19 February 1985148 die when an Iberia Boeing 727 crashes into a TV mast near Bilbao. According to Spain's airport authority, Aena, the plane had been due to take off at 1300 local time.
No details of the nationalities of the passengers on board have yet been released.
But the plane was a codeshare flight with German airline Lufthansa, which said it was investigating whether German passengers were on the flight.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero was on his way to the scene after cutting short his holiday, his office said.
The aircraft was a MD82, a plane commonly used on short trips around Europe, aviation expert Chris Yates told the BBC. He said Spanair had a very good safety record.
Reports say it was the first crash at Barajas airport, some 13km (8 miles) from central Madrid, since 1983.
People concerned for relatives or friends who might have been on board the plane can call Spanair's helpline on +34 800 400 200 (from inside Spain only).
MD82 AIRCRAFT Passengers 150-170Cruise speed 504mph (811km/h)Length 45.1m (148ft) Height 9m (29.5ft)Wing-span 32.8m (107.6ft) Maximum range 2,052 nautical miles (3,798km)
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