Yesterday afternoon, 20 August 2008, the Spanair flight JK5022 crashed shortly after an awkward takeoff from the new Terminal 4 of Madrid Barajas Airport. It was carrying 172 people and 19 persons survived, including two small children. It remains to be seen how many of those 19 will survive their serious injuries.
The 2-hour outbound flight was headed to Las Palmas in the Canary
Islands, carrying mostly people returning home from summer holidays as
well as others just starting their holiday.
The two-engine plane, a MD-82, was apparently taxiing for take off but reported a technical problem, returned to a secure area for 40 minutes with passengers onboard, the plane was checked out by Spanair technicians and cleared. It attempted to take off, ascended about 55 meters, when one of the engines failed.
Details of what happened are still uncertain, unclear, or conflicting
and we’re all likely to know many of the reasons why these people died
as “the black box” is analyzed and the eyewitness accounts are compiled.
This is the first fatal airplane crash at Madrid Barajas Airport since 1983 when 93 persons were killed when two airplanes collided.
Our thoughts and hopes are with the families of those lost and also go to those still clinging to life.
Read the CNN article (in English) HERE.
Read the El Pais article (in Spanish) HERE.
This might be a weird request, but I was wondering if you could tell me some of the differences between Spanish and american healthcare. It’s for a paper I’m writing.
Oh, and please don’t think this is random. I went through a lot of blogs, so I hope you can help!