MADRID, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of the plane crash on Wednesday in Madrid's international airport has reached 153 and 20 injuries, since many of the survivors died in hospitals, government officer said.

At least six of the 26 survivors died hours after the accident due to grave contusions and burns that they suffered, Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez said.

Alvarez said there were 173 people including 9 crew members on board the Spanair MD-82, which burst into flames during take-off on a flight to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

The crash took place at the International Airport of Barajas, Madrid at 2:45 p.m. local time (1245 GMT) when the MD-82 jet shot off the runway at Terminal Four.

Airport authorities said engine fire may have caused the accident.

Witnesses saw columns of smoke rising from the aircraft whose left engine was said to be on fire.

The Spanair Flight JK5022 was bound for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, a popular resort off West Africa. The flight was shared with the LH255 from the German airline Lufthansa.

Spokeswoman Henriette Eilekrogan of the Scandinavian airline SAS, of which Spanair is its Spanish daughter unit, said an emergency phone number has been set up for passengers' families and additional rescue workers have been sent to Madrid to help with the crisis there.

High level officers and the mayor of Madrid Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon went immediately to the airport to know about the situations.

Authorities declared a state of emergency in the airport due to the accident, and it was temporarily closed only for taking offs. The landings continued with normality.

This accident has become one of the worse aerial disasters in the last 25 years in the International Airport of Barajas.
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