Airplane Crash After Take off at Madrid Barajas-Airport Spana

The Queen has sent her condolences following the plane crash at Madrid's airport which killed 149 passengers, many of them children.

Around 26 people are in a critical condition after the Spanair plane bound for Gran Canaria skidded off the runway on take-off at Barajas airport with 166 passengers and nine crew onboard.

In a message to King Juan Carlos of Spain, the Queen said: "I was deeply saddened to learn of the dreadful loss of life in today's aircraft crash at Barajas airport in Madrid, the news of which has shocked us all.

"Philip joins me in sending our warm and heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends of those who have died and our best wishes for a speedy recovery to those who have been injured. At this difficult time all those affected by this tragedy are in our thoughts and prayers."

Members of the emergency services were shocked at what they witnessed on arrival at the crash scene.

Herbigio Corral, who headed the emergency response, said: "Only the tail was recognisable, there was wreckage scattered all over the place and dead bodies across a wide area. A lot of them were children."


And ambulance service supervisor Luis Ferreras said: "Many paramedics have never seen anything like this in their lives."

Meanwhile, a civil guard told journalists at the airport: "It just didn't look anything like an aircraft. It was horrific. Everything was burnt." A fellow officer added: "It is horrible. I just don't want to tell you about it, I don't want to describe it."

Dozens of emergency vehicles attended the scene from where a large cloud of smoke billowed from the remains of flight JK5022. Scandianvian airline SAS, which owns Spanair, said the aircraft was an MD-82, en route to Las Palmas when the crash occurred at 2.23pm local time.

There was no immediate accident but the newspaper El Mundo quoted a source on its website as saying the plane's left engine had caught fire and that the plane had twice attempted take-off.

Police escorted tearful relatives of passengers past reporters while dozens of workers identified as psychologists and social workers arrived at the terminal.

Shocked relatives also began arriving at Las Palmas airport where they were taken into a room and offered counselling by Red Cross psychiatrists.