14 bodies identified so far in Spain plane crash

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-21 17:24

MADRID - Spain began three days of mourning Thursday for the 153 people who died when a jetliner crashed shortly after takeoff in the nation's worst air disaster in nearly 25 years.

Spain's Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez (C) attends a news conference at Barajas airport in Madrid August 20, 2008. A Spanair airliner bound for the Canary Islands at the height of the vacation season crashed, burned and broke into pieces Wednesday while trying to take off from Madrid, killing 153 people on board, officials said. [Agencies]

Only 19 people survived Wednesday's crash of a Spanair plane bound for the Canary Islands.

Development Minister Magdalana Alvarez said Thursday that 14 bodies have been identified so far. She said the process could take several days because many bodies were burned beyond recognition and forensic teams are using DNA techniques.

Flags in Madrid flew at half-staff and a silent vigil was planned for noon. The king and queen planned to visit a makeshift morgue where relatives were waiting to claim the remains of their loved ones.

Some mourners spent the whole night at the morgue.

Spanair said it did not know the cause of the crash. The Spanish newspaper El Pais said one of the two engines failed and may have caught fire during takeoff.

The airline said the pilot of the US-built MD-82 airliner initially reported a problem with a gauge that measures temperature outside the plane. The takeoff was delayed while the problem was repaired.

During the second takeoff attempt, the plane crashed at the end of the runway, burning and largely disintegrating.

The morgue has been set up at Madrid's main convention center - the same facility used for relatives to identify bodies after the March 11, 2004 Islamic terror attacks that killed 191 people on Madrid commuter trains.

Spanair chartered a plane in the Canary Islands to fly in relatives of people killed in the crash.