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Alvarez said late Wednesday that the death toll had risen to 153. Nineteen passengers were hospitalized with severe injuries, including life-threatening burns. The flight had 164 passengers and nine crew members on board.

According to rescue services and witnesses, the Spanair type MD-82 aircraft never achieved flight, but hurtled off the end of the runway, where it broke apart and burst into flames.

"I saw how the airplane was torn into many pieces," said a driver who watched the crash from a nearby highway. "Then there were huge explosions. At first, I thought the plane was getting ready to land. But then it tipped to the side and bored into the earth with its rightwing."

The flight with numbers JK 5022 and LH 2554 was to take off at 1 pm (1100 GMT) for Gran Canaria. According to a report from the daily El Pais, the first takeoff was broken off due to a technical problem. The crash occurred around 2:45 pm (1245 GMT) during the second attempt to depart.

A huge cloud of smoke rose from the accident site. Fire and rescue services sent a helicopter to douse the flames in the McDonnel-Douglas aircraft and surrounding field.

Rescue workers painted a picture of horror.

"There was nothing left that resembled an airplane," a police officer said. "It's how I imagine hell."

A colleague added that everything was black and burnt.

"The bodies were so hot, that we burnt our fingers when we moved them."

Another rescue worker said it was a miracle that anyone survived the inferno.

"The bodies in the wreckage were like charcoal and maimed," he said.

About 60 ambulances rushed to the accident, but most returned home empty because of the high death toll.

The dead were transported with hearses to a hall at the Madrid convention centre, the same place that bodies were taken four years ago after terrorist attacks killed 191 people on trains during commuter rush hour in Madrid.

Family and friends waiting for the flight to arrive in Gran Canaria stood for hours waiting to hear the fate of their spouses, parents, siblings or children.

"My sons, my daughter," sobbed one woman.

Following the incident, the airport was immediately closed to all traffic. Shortly thereafter takeoffs and landings resumed on a limited basis.

The company Spanair is facing financial difficulties, with Scandinavian parent company SAS reportedly trying to find a buyer for the ailing airline. Spanair was in the process of reducing staff by a third and shrinking its number of routes.