The Korean Air cargo jet which crashed near Stansted Airport had an engine on fire as it was taking off, eyewitnesses have told the BBC.

The jet crashed in a ball of flames in nearby fields, killing all four crew members.

Debris found on the runway is believed to include parts of the Boeing 747's engine and fuselage.

BBC transport reporter Tom Heap says this would suggest that there was an explosion while the engine was at full power, ripping through the plane and tearing its fuselage.

Drivers on the nearby M11 motorway had watched in horror as the Milan-bound jet crashed three miles south east of Stansted near the village of Great Hallingbury on the outskirts of Hatfield Forest.

However, a spokeswoman at Stansted Airport denied that the engine was on fire, saying all indications were that the jet had had "a normal take-off".

She said the debris found on the runway was thought to have been blown back from the crash site.

Crash investigators have revealed that the crew on the stricken plane did not have time to issue a mayday call before it came down two minutes after taking off.

But it is thought that as the plane was pointing back towards Stansted when it crashed on Wednesday evening, the crew were desperately trying to make it back to the airport.

Smouldering wreckage was spread over hundreds of square yards at the crash site, some of it landing just yards from a farm, though no-one on the ground was injured.

New checks

Air accident investigators are searching wreckage spread over a half-mile wide crater looking for clues to the crash.

New safety checks on Korean Air planes have been ordered by the UK Department of Transport after the incident.

The department said it had been aware of concerns over the airline's safety record, but earlier checks had not suggested that the company's aircraft should be grounded.



Click here to see a map of the crash site

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who visited the site of the crash on Thursday, has announced an inquiry and hopes to make a preliminary statement on the cause of the accident by the weekend.

He said: "I am very relieved that the population of the area was spared in this terrible accident."

And Korean ambassador Sung Hong Choi, who accompanied Mr Prescott at the crash scene, said: "I am very much saddened and disappointed over this accident, but I feel relieved that the village was not affected."

South Korea is dispatching a four-member team to assist with the crash inquiry, while Korean Air is sending 30 executives and technicians to the UK.

One "black box" flight recorder has been recovered from the wreckage of the plane, but a second is still missing.

By 2000 GMT on Thursday, the airport estimated that about 2,500 people were still waiting in the terminal facing delays of up to four hours.

The runway reopened on Thursday morning after being cleared of debris and it is thought normal service should be resumed by Friday morning.

The investigation into the crash will examine the plane's cargo, which police said included a small quantity of "low level explosives", thought to be detonator fuse.

Korean Air say the plane was carrying 63.7 tons of cargo, of which just 199kg was labelled "dangerous goods" and made up of paint, "Benzyl type" products and other chemicals.

Meanwhile pressure is growing among MPs for action over air safety.

Gwyneth Dunwoody - who chairs the House of Commons Transport Select Committee - said the government should consider tougher action against airlines with poor safety records which operate from British airports.

And Harlow MP Bill Rammell, whose constituency lies directly beneath the Stansted flight path, said Korean Air should be suspended while the investigation was completed.

Korean Air is licensed to operate up to five scheduled flights a week between London Heathrow and Seoul. The airline also operates weekly UK-Seoul cargo flights from Heathrow and Stansted.

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