At least 100 people have been killed after a passenger plane swerved off the runway at Madrid's Barajas airport, Spanish officials say.

Unconfirmed reports say there were just 26 survivors from 172 people on board the Spanair flight, bound for the Canary Islands.

It is thought that the left engine caught fire during take-off.

Helicopters were called in to dump water on to the plane, and dozens of ambulances went to the scene.

TV footage later showed several people being carried away on stretchers.

The exact number of casualties is still unknown, with several reports suggesting just 26 people survived the crash, which happened at about 1430 local time (1230 GMT).

Officials confirmed to the BBC and Spanish news agency Efe that the death toll had passed 100.

The BBC's Steve Kingstone, in Madrid, says planes have begun to take off from the airport, but a grim line of emergency vehicles obscured the view of the crash scene.

Earlier, BBC journalist Stephanie McGovern, who is at the airport, said she had seen more than 70 ambulances leaving the scene.

Spanish journalist Manuel Moleno, who was near the area when the accident happened, said the plane appeared to have "crashed into pieces".

"We heard a big crash. So we stopped and we saw a lot of smoke," he said.

Mr Moleno said he had seen as many as 20 people walking away from the wreckage.

'Good safety record'

The plane, which was destined for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, came down during or shortly after take-off from Terminal Four at Barajas.

TV footage showed that the plane had come to rest in fields near the airport.

Spanair issued a statement saying that flight number JK 5022 had been involved in an accident at 1445 local time. The airline's parent company, Scandinavian firm SAS, later said the accident happened at 1423.

According to Spain's airport authority, Aena, the plane had been due to take off at 1300 local time.

No details of the nationalities of the passengers on board have yet been released.

But the plane was a codeshare flight with German airline Lufthansa, which said it was investigating whether German passengers were on the flight.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero was on his way to the scene after cutting short his holiday, his office said.

The aircraft was a MD82, a plane commonly used on short trips around Europe, aviation expert Chris Yates told the BBC. He said Spanair had a very good safety record.

Reports say it was the first crash at Barajas airport, some 13km (8 miles) from central Madrid, since 1983.


Source: BBC