Chain of faults blamed for Madrid disaster

A VIDEO of the Madrid air disaster showed no engine on fire as the Spanair jet hurtled to a fiery crash and experts now believe a chain of faults lay behind the catastrophe.

As investigators pursued a painstaking operation to identify the 153 victims, authorities announced a national funeral service will be held in Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral.

Images filmed by the civil aviation authority, AENA, showed the Spanair MD 82 took off and crashed moments later off the runway, newspapers reported.

“The video shows that the plane caught fire only after it hit the ground,” El Pais said.

Witnesses had been quoted as saying the left engine caught fire as the plane took off on a flight to the Canary Islands.

A total of 153 people were killed and 19 injured. Most of the dead were burned beyond recognition and the grim task of identifying the bodies continued at a makeshift morgue at a Madrid congress centre.

Authorities said 59 bodies have so far been identified using fingerprints. But DNA tests will be necessary to identify 94 others.

The mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, said a funeral service would be held for all the victims on Monday, September 1 at Almudena Cathedral.