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Spanair plane crashed at Madrid Barajas Airport
A Spanair SA MD-82 jetliner crashed yesterday (14:45 hours local time) into the runway at Madrid's Barajas International airport and bursted into flames, during take off. The plane, which was taken off from Madrid to Las Palmas with flight number JK 5022, was carrying a total of 172 people of which 162 were passengers, 4 passive crew members and 6 flight crew. 153 of them were killed in Spain's worst aviation accident in 25 years.

Spanair, after contacting all the families of the passengers on board JK 5022 in Madrid, published the list of passengers on its website (www.spanair.com). Spanair expressed its condolences to the families of the victims of this terrible accident. The company is doing everything possible to help the families and assist their immediate needs.

Spanair is a subsidiary of the Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) airline, and the scheduled flight JK5022 shared a code with the German carrier Lufthansa on flight LH255. The causes of the crash, which happened on a summer's afternoon at the height of the holiday season, remained still unclear.

Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero broke off from his holiday in southern Spain to return to Madrid, heading straight for the airport.

Founded in 1986, Spanair has hubs in Madrid and Barcelona and flies within Spain and the rest of Europe, as well as West Africa.

Vicky Karantzavelou - Thursday, August 21, 2008