The aircraft, Spanair Flight JK5022, was cross-listed as Lufthansa LH 2554. The plane had been headed to Gran Canaria, in Spain’s Canary Islands, a popular vacation destination off the West African coast.
Television footage of the accident, which occurred at 2:45 p.m., showed clouds of white smoke billowing over the runway at Madrid Barajas International Airport. The airport, the fourth busiest in Europe, ranks just behind Frankfurt in terms of passenger traffic.
There was no immediate official account
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