There was nothing to indicate any trouble Dan-Air spokesman

The managing director of Dan-Air, Alan Snudden, has refused to speculate about what might have happened until there is definite news.

Another spokesman for the British-owned airline said: "The weather at Barcelona at the time was quite clear. There was nothing to indicate any trouble."

The plane was routed to fly over western France and the Pyrenees.

Dan-Air owns 12 similar Comet-4 airliners and flies this route five or six times a week.

The airline, formed in 1953, also flies out of Gatwick, Teeside, Glasgow and Berlin and ranked highly in an air safety survey published recently.

London-based Clarksons is the largest package holiday company in Britain and has a five year contract with Dan-Air to use three Comets.

Together they flew 250,000 people abroad last year.

Since Comets appeared in 1953 as the world's first passenger jet aircraft they have been beset by tragedy.

They have been involved in half a dozen crashes claiming over 200 lives.

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