In pictures: Madrid's plane crash

More than 150 people have died after a plane veered off the runway during take-off at Madrid's international airport.

The jet crashed into a ravine alongside the runway and broke up, setting light to the surrounding dry vegetation.

Helicopters dumped water on the burning wreckage of the MD-82, which came to rest in a field at the end of the Terminal Four runway.

Teams of rescue workers transported the injured to hospital, as early reports of the death toll continued to rise.

Dozens of ambulances and fire engines were at the scene within minutes, to try to rescue passengers of Spanair flight 5022, bound for Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands.

Distraught friends and relatives soon gathered at Barajas airport in Madrid, desperately waiting for news of their loved ones.

News of the accident began to reach relatives waiting at Las Palmas airport in the Canary Islands.

Later on Wednesday, the site of the crash was hidden from view behind a line of emergency vehicles.

Planes were again taking off from the airport on Wednesday afternoon. An investigation is under way, but it may be some time before the cause of the crash is known.

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero cut short his holiday to meet grieving relatives at the airport and thanked rescue workers involved in what he called "this great tragedy".

Back

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Next