Date:21/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/21/stories/2008082155321400.htm

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45 killed as plane swerves off runway

— Photo: AP

Medical personnel tend an injured passenger in Barajas Airport on Wednesday.

MADRID: A Spanish airliner bound for the Canary Islands swerved off the runway while departing from Madrid’s Barajas airport on Wednesday and caught fire, killing at least 45 people, said the Interior Ministry.

While 19 were seriously injured, 25 were slightly hurt, said the Ministry’s office.

It said there were 178 people aboard the Spanair flight. It is the height of the summer tourist season in Spain, when families take holidays throughout the country.

At the airport, helicopters and fire trucks dumped water on the plane, which ended up in a wooded area at the end of the runway at Terminal 4. Thick columns of white smoke billowed from the scene. Dozens of ambulances raced to the scene.

An official with the Madrid emergency rescue service SAMUR said crews were removing injured people and bodies from the plane, calling it a “catastrophe.” — AP