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ROUND TOWN NEWS REPORT ON CRASH
Miracle Escape Of 19 Survivors
T
hree children and two babies were amongst the survivors of Spanair flight JK5022, which crashed on Wednesday moments after take-off from Madrid airport killing 153. The airliner’s port engine was seen in flames as it climbed to around 300 feet before plunging back to the ground and exploding into a fireball beside the runway at Barajas Airport. As Round Town News went to press, 19 people were said to have survived the disaster, although some were described as very seriously injured, from the 172 passengers and crew on board the holiday flight – including 20 children and the two babies. However, surveying the devastation and wreckage, one rescue worker said: “It was a miracle that anyone survived this fireball.” Relatives of the dead were arriving at a makeshift morgue yesterday (Thursday) to begin the grim task of trying to identify loved ones, and Red Cross counsellors were standing by to help the grieving.
SILENCE
And a minute’s silence was staged across Spain yesterday to honour the victims, while flags across the country – and in the Olympic village in Beijing – flew at half-mast. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero cut short his holiday to visit the scene. The majority of passengers on the plane, a twin-engine McDonnell Douglas MD82, were Spanish and Germans who had booked the flight through national carrier Lufthansa. There were no reports of British nationals being on board. However, embassy and consular staff continued to make every effort to get official confirmation there were no British nationals involved – 17 million people travel each year to Spain and there is an expat population of over one million. And a spokesman for the British Embassy in Madrid said: “At this stage we are not aware of any British nationals being involved. Travel advice has been changed and refers people to the Spanair website where a list of passengers has been posted. “The airline reports that it has contacted all next of kin.”
SECOND
Catastrophe struck during the airliner’s second attempt to leave Europe’s fourth busiest airport – more than 50 million passengers pass through Barajas each year – after a “technical issue” arose as the plane taxied out and it was forced to return to its gate, passengers being warned they might have to change planes. Engineers carried out an inspection of the 15-year-old Boeing manufactured aircraft, one of 36 of the MD80 series flown by Majorca-based Spanair, which operates a fleet of 63 aircraft and carries more than 10 million passengers each year on 371 daily flights departing 36 airports. And a company spokesman confirmed that takeoff was delayed when the pilot reported a faulty temperature gauge. Eyewitnesses said the port engine burst into flames as the plane left the ground before tumbling out of the sky and breaking into two as it hit scrubland beside the runway. An explosion was reported and rescuers had to brave the heat of the fire as helicopters dropped loads of water on the wreckage in a bid to douse the fire and cool down the crash scene.
HELL
One worker with the emergency service SAMUR said: “It’s the closest thing to Hell I’ve seen. Everything was burning, there was nothing left resembling a plane, it was in pieces.” And others told how bodies were “boiling hot”, saying: “We burnt ourselves trying to collect them.” Herbigio Corral, who led the rescue operation, described the scene. “Only the tail was recognisable. There was wreckage scattered all over the place and dead bodies across a wide area.” Around 170 police officers and 230 paramedics were sent to the scene, while 70 fire-fighters and 11 fire engines took two hours to extinguish the blaze. Ligia Palomino, 41, a doctor with the emergency service was one of the survivors rescued by her own SAMUR colleagues.
CELEBRATE
The doctor had been flying to the Gran Canaria to celebrate her 42nd birthday and suffered a broken hip in the accident. She told reporters in Madrid: “I heard a terrible noise as we were taking off and the next thing I remember was being flung from the aircraft. I must have passed out but woke up when there was a loud explosion. “I could feel an incredible heat from the wreckage – people, including children, were crying out for help.” Her husband Jose was taken to another hospital but her sister is still reported as missing. The airliner’s two ‘black box’ flight recorders have been recovered by Spanish authorities at the scene and could play a vital part in establishing what caused the tragedy.
SPECULATE
Speculation continues as to the fate of the Spanair jet. Three likely causes could be bird strike, a sudden complete engine failure, or runway debris fracturing vital controls. However, pilots are trained to deal with engine fire at take-off and the MD82 is capable of being flown on one engine. Experts said a fire in the left engine would cause the plane to veer to the left – yet witnesses said the right wing struck the ground first, suggesting another failure caused the crash and pilot error could not be ruled out. Aircraft are under maximum stress as they take-off, with fuel tanks full and engines delivering full power. It means that pilots have little time to respond should something go wrong and there is a critical moment – known as V1 – when the plane is travelling so fast there is no longer enough runway left to brake and remain safely on the ground. Only when a plane reaches 500 feet will a crew be confident take-off was completed safely.
HORSE
The MD80 series – which includes the MD82 – is considered a short haul workhorse and although now considered a fairly elderly airliner, it is still considered to be safe and reliable. Having first come into service almost 30 years ago, it has been involved in 11 fatal crashes – against a background of some 20 million flights.
And pilots say the plane’s safety record was comparable to similar medium range airliners such as the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320. However, last year Amercian Airlines was ordered to ground its 300 strong fleet of MD80 series for a “safety audit” and review of the aircraft hydraulic systems and another American carrier Delta Airlines also cancelled flights to inspect its fleet. Spanair, Spain’s second largest airline after Iberia and a subsidiary of Scandinavian carrier SAS, is currently facing hard times, hit by rising fuel prices and falling passenger numbers. Before the Madrid disaster, pilots were threatening to strike over plans to sack more than 1,000 staff.
AN ISLAND IN MOURNING
Eighty islanders dead after boarding ill fated flighT RTN correspondent Deborah Woodmansey from our Gran Canaria sister newspaper, files this moving report from an island now mourning the loss of so many of its own. Eighty Canarians have died in the tragedy which has shocked and silenced the island. Already quiet with it being high Spanish holiday season, it is an eerie resilient silence in the villages today. Today is the day the full horror of what has happened to their friends, family and neighbours hits home. “An absolute catastrophe” burst one villager as she quietly busys herself working in a café. Everyone is in contemplation, as if the mute button has been pressed; unusual for the villagers who generally like to discuss every minute detail at length. She turns to me again, “one from our village….we lost a boy from our village, and his little baby. He was with his wife” turning away as abruptly as she had begun and off she went again to make more coffee, again in her own thoughts.
Officially there is three days official mourning, as declared by the president of the Canaries. He had been at the airport with the families as they waited to hear news of their loved ones. The Spanish national team may have been heavily criticized for playing their friendly on Wednesday night but as soon as news came in of the disaster the local team’s games were cancelled, including that of Tenerife. The full UD Las Palmas squad was in attendance yesterday in Teror, home to the patron saint of Gran Canaria, as it begins the celebration of ‘virgin del pino’. This pueblito has also lost a young man in the disaster. Gran Canaria is a small island and a close caring community which will mourn whilst continuing its duties. Not one person will be left unaffected by this catastrophe; on the list is a relative, a neighbour, a colleague, a friend and even their politicians. “The children!”; “unbelievable”; “the children”!!
A villager who had to travel with Spanair on the night of the disaster, Wednesday, on route home to Gran Canaria, said that there was nervous tension in the airport as the full horror was unfolding. “The staff were very calm but the other passengers were becoming increasingly agitated and angry at the delays….our flight was continually have its boarding time put back….I am glad I got here safe even if we were many hours behind schedule”. Walking into a council office Thursday morning which was getting on with the business of running the village, it was notably calm and quiet. Not in the streets and not here amongst colleagues and villagers were there smiles, friendly chatter or mobile conversations. Council workers were pouring over the boarding list of the ill fated Spanair flight to Las Palmas airport. Luis in lowered tones tells me of several people he knew who had boarded the flight. I mention the neighbouring council having lost a well respected Councillor, seemingly right hand to the Mayoress. “It could have been anyone of us…you think its safe but its not. Everyone is a little more anxious now”. Asking if he has fear now for the route which every Canarian will make at some time, he answers “I will be a little less calm next time but we need the planes…we are an island!”
This message was last edited by morerosado on 8/22/2008.