153 people were killed when a Spanair passenger jet crashed on takeoff at Madrid airport on Wednesday and 19 survived, a source at Spanish emergency services said.

Fatal plane crash in Madrid - 20 / 08 / 2008 17:44

A Spanish airliner bound for the Canary Islands crashed, burned and broke into pieces Wednesday while trying to take off from Madrid's Barajas airport, killing 153 people on board, officials said.

There were only 19 survivors in the mid-afternoon crash, a Spanish emergency official said.

A police officer said the bodies were so hot that police could barely touch them and told El Pais newspaper the shattered wreckage bore no resemblance to a plane.

A Spanish tourist jet carrying 172 people careered off a Madrid airport runway and broke up in flames on Wednesday killing at least 149 people, national radio reported.

The Spanair MD-82 made an emergency landing just after taking off from Madrid-Barajas airport heading for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, according to an airport authority spokesman.

Spanish media said an engine caught fire as it took off. Smoke billowed from the wreckage of Flight JK 5022.

Helicopters dropped water to douse the flames of the jet and grassfires caused by the crash. The airport cancelled departures after the crash and restricted the number of flights arriving.

About 30 incoming flights were delayed by up to seven hours. 

A Spanair MD82 aircraft

Reuters / Sky News