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MADRID, Spain — A Spanish plane with more than 170 people on board went off the runway Wednesday at Madrid’s Barajas Airport, killing at least 90 people, officials said.

Medical personnel tend an injured passenger in Madrid’s Barajas airport.

The crash during take off reportedly followed an explosion on board the budget airline jet, sending up a plume of smoke visible from several kilometers away.

The official death toll is 90, according to Interior Ministry officials. But local officials are telling that 26 people taken to hospital are the only survivors.

Some of those survivors have serious injuries and others non-life threatening injuries. Many of the injured were treated for burns.

The incident happened as Spanair Flight 5022 was taking off from the main runway, the official said. It was headed to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, a more than two-hour flight. Watch smoke rising from airport »

The Red Cross said it has set up a field hospital at the airport to treat the injured and is offering psychological counseling to the victims’ families.

Clouds of gray and black smoke billowed from the site, and even local media cameras could not get a close view of the accident scene. A helicopter passed overhead, dumping what appeared to be water on reported grassfires sparked by the blaze.

Ambulances were seen speeding in and out of the airport and dozens of emergency vehicles gathered at one entrance point. Watch as the wounded arrive at a hospital »

Spanish media reported at least 11 fire engines were dispatched to control the blaze.

Spanish journalist Carlota Fomina told she had spoken to one of the passengers who had been on board the plane at the time of the crash who described an explosion and fire at the back of the plane.

It was not immediately clear when during take off the accident happened or if the plane had managed to get off the ground.

The accident happened as Spanair Flight 5022 — also carrying passengers from Lufthansa Flight 2554 — was taking off at about 2:45 p.m. (8:45 a.m. ET), an airport official said.

Spanair, owned by Scandinavian airline SAS, is one of Spain’s three major private carriers.

An SAS official said there were 166 passengers plus six crew on the plane, which was a code-share flight with Lufthansa Airline, indicating the jet may have been carrying German vacationers. Watch as relatives of survivors start arriving at the airport »

Barajas Airport closed after the crash but reopened more than two hours later, allowing a limited number of take-offs and landings, the airport official said.

It was the first fatal accident at the airport since December 1983, when 93 people were killed as two Spanish airliners collided while taxiing for takeoff.

The airport, eight miles (13 km) northeast of central Madrid, is Spain’s busiest, handling more than 40 million passengers a year.

The United States’ National Transportation Safety Board is sending an investigation team to Madrid to aid in the crash investigation because the aircraft is an American-made McDonnell Douglas MD-82, NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said.

He said the group will depart “as soon as we can gather the team together.”

1. video: http://edition.cnn.com/
2. video: Reuters
3. pictures Reuters

Duration : 0:4:18

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