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Medical personnel help an injured passenger who survived Wednesday's crash
At least 45 people are dead and 19 seriously injured after a Canary Islands-bound airplane swerved off a runway and crashed Wednesday during takeoff at Madrid's international airport, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.
Media reports indicated the death toll could quickly climb, with Reuters citing an emergency services source as saying all but 25 people aboard the plane had died. Spanair's website said that 164 passengers and nine crew were aboard when the plane crashed around 2:45 p.m. local time.

Officials said the Spanair flight JK 5022 was bound for the popular holiday destination of Las Palmas, located on Grand Canary island off the northwestern coast of Africa.

TV footage showed a large plume of smoke rising from the site of the accident at the Madrid Barajas International Airport, located about 13 kilometres northeast of central Madrid.

El Pais editor Guy Hedgecoe told CBC News that emergency services were seen pulling passengers out of the burning plane while helicopters overhead poured water over it to try to douse the flames.
Hedgecoe said the plane was starting to leave the landing strip on takeoff when an engine on the left-hand side caught fire.

"We don't know the reason for the fire, but that seems to have caused the accident," he said.

Shortly after the fire began, the plane then descended onto the airstrip, crashed and burst into flames, he said.

The plane ended up in a wooded area at the end of a runway at the recently built Terminal 4, located on the edge of the airport grounds.

Passengers originating in Germany could also be aboard the flight since it shares a Lufthansa flight code, LH 2554.

Madrid's Barajas airport is Spain's busiest air hub, handling more than 40 million passengers a year.

CBC

[JohnCenaFan28]

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