Spain begins three days mourning as Spanair crash investigation starts
Updated on 21 August 2008
Three days of mourning are declared in Spain following the plane crash which killed 153 people.
The country's prime minister has cut short his holiday to visit the crash site and talk to some of the survivors.
An official investigation is underway, but the details of what happened before the crash are scarce.
Yesterday, at Barajas airport in Madrid, Spanair flight JK5022 was on its way to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.
It was due to take off from Terminal 2 at 1pm local time, but departure was delayed because of a problem with the air intake cooling system, which overheated.
The aeroplane returned to Terminal 2 and at 2.45pm it moved back to the runway for a second take-off attempt.
There is no information yet, but eyewitnesses report the left engine caught fire after the plane briefly left the ground before shooting off the runway near Terminal 4, swerving to the right.
The plane broke into pieces, and burst into flames in grassland. Survivors of the crash were thrown from the plane, landing in a nearby stream.
The fire hampered the rescue efforts to reach any survivors trapped inside the fuselage.
Both black boxes have been recovered.
