Spanish Plane Crash at Malaga

[Zulu]

Spanish plane crashes near Malaga


A Spanish plane has crashed near Malaga airport, say reports.


A spokesman for the Iberia airline said the aircraft came down on a road, causing an unknown number of injuries.

Reports from Spanish media said at least 45 people were injured, and some were trapped in the wreckage. There were no initial reports of fatalities.

The aircraft was travelling from Melilla, the Spanish enclave in Morocco, to Malaga in southern Spain.

The plane is said to be operated by Iberia's Binter regional unit.

Fire engines and ambulances were on the scene to help evacuate passengers.

BBC News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1514000/1514716.stm)

[flugpants]

Think it was Binter Med with a CASA CN235 with 40 odd seats. No reports of fatalities yet.......fingers crossed!

[Silkman]

Yep, Binter Med Casa CN235 ECFBC, appears to have come down 150M short of the runway.
News reports now saying 3 dead and 16 injured. R.I.P.

[markbingo]

From SKY News :

Malaga Airport Crash

Three people are thought to have died when an aircraft crash landed near Malaga airport in Spain, on a road only 200 metres short of the runway.

A further 16 were injured when the plane came down just short of the airport, which is used by thousands of tourists every day.

Broken back

Fire engines and ambulances were on the scene to help evacuate passengers. Pictures showed the back of the plane had broken on landing.

The CN-235 plane was operated by Binter, a unit of Spanish national airline Iberia, which runs only five small propeller-driven aircraft on internal flights. It is thought there were 44 people aboard, but it is not known if there were any foreign tourists among them.

It was flying from the little Spanish territory of Melilla, on Morocco's north coast, to Malaga, on the southern Spanish coast.

Helicopters

Danny Ford, of Central Malaga Radio, spoke to Sky News as he watched the emergency services at work. "It came down about 200 metres before the runway. It is not on fire, but fire engines are pumping liquid onto the plane to stop it catching," he said.

Later he said all ambulances had left the scene, but helicopters had arrived to ferry the injured away. "It looks like they might have everyone out of the plane," he said. "They're tending to people on the road."

[Vortex what...ouch!]

Some pictures are available here http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1514000/1514948.stm

Last once has the comment "engine failure suspected"!!!

[CCAero]

According to lunch time news, port engine may have failed. Capt and CoP critical. Speedy recovery

[JR_wilco]

DATE: 29.08.2001 LOCAL TIME: -
LOCATION: Malaga-Int´l AP / Spain
AIRLINE: Binter Mediterraneo
TYPE: CASA CN-325-100 REGISTRATION: EC-FBC C/N: C033 Age: 10 years + 8 months
OPERATION: DSP FLIGHT: Melilla -> Malaga
OCCUPANTS: 47 pax/crew FATALITIES: 3 pax INJURIES: 16+ pax/crew DAMAGE TO AIRCRAFT: destroyed
The aircraft was crashed on landing when it missed the runway and came to rest on a road.

for further news: http://www.jacdec.de

[Spanglish]

Sadly the Captain has also passed away, according to TVE teletext.

[newswatcher]

An AP report, carried in the Toronto Star:

A turboprop airliner crash-landed on a highway near an airport in the southern Spanish city of Malaga today, killing three passengers and the pilot, and injuring 25 others on board.

The pilot of the Binter Mediterraneo airliner radioed that he was having engine trouble and asked for ambulances to be dispatched two minutes before he crashed at about 10:15 a.m., just metres from the edge of the airport, police said.aircraft. The broken fuselage blocked two lanes of the busy national highway N340 between Malaga and the resort town Torremolinos, backing up traffic for kilometres.

Police said several passengers were trapped for a time inside the plane. Others broke open a window and escaped through an emergency door.

The plane's captain, Mariano Ruano, 55, died later in a hospital, the airline said. The Spanish pilots' union SEPLA said Ruano's skillful flying had averted a greater tragedy.

The airline said the cause of the accident had not been determined. Binter is a former subsidiary of the national airline, Iberia.

It was the fourth accident involving the company's CN-235s this year, including three that crashed in Turkey between January and May, killing 41 people, said the government's Efe news agency.

The agency cited officials in Melilla saying Binter planned to replace its five CN235s next year because of complaints from authorities and passengers that the aircraft were frequently breaking down.

[ 29 August 2001: Message edited by: newswatcher ]

[FlyingLow]

It seems that both pilots on board were captains at Binter. One of them, the one who died, was the chief pilot (or whatever you call it) at Binter, had 35 years of flying experience and had been flying the CN-235 before at the Spanish Air Force.

Latest news say that at around 1015Lt the acft was told to contact TWR. The acft never did so, and when the tower called they declared an emergency, and asked to have the FF waiting for them at landing. The fire fighters were waiting for them along the runway, but they sadly never made it there. :(

According to a pax declarations after the accident, the acft flyed for 4 or 5 minutes with one stalled engine.

Some TV channels have given a second engine failure as a probable cause of the final outcome (as soon as 3pm, 4 hours after de accident!). :confused:

Strong winds and turbulence present at the time of the accident may have contributed.

Sadly these things happen :(

PD: Edited for spelling errors... more can surely be found!

[ 29 August 2001: Message edited by: FlyingLow ]

[N380UA]

The reports that I herd were stating 8 dead and 23 injured. The a/c was on short final as the left engine failed. The crew did report an emergency and were apparently fighting the airplane. It was almost immediately clear that they would not make it to the airport and decided put her down on the highway leading to it. R.I.P.