Accidents in Spain, Germany and Switzerland
In a world that has become sadly accustomed to the violent images of war, there was still room for shock last week at the carnage of civilian calamities. Americans and Europeans alike were stunned by three unrelated accidents that killed 135 people and injured 67.
The deadliest of the mishaps occurred as a chartered Spanish DC-10, fully laden with 380 tourists bound for New York, was racing down the runway of the airport near the seaside resort of Málaga. As the aircraft approached the necessary takeoff speed of more than 180 m.p.h., the plane began to vibrate severely. Pilot Juan Pérez apparently responded by slamming on the brakes, although at that point there is usually neither enough time nor enough room to bring a plane to a safe halt on the runway. Lighting panels dropped from the roof of the cabin, and hundreds of souvenirs spilled from overhead baggage compartments. Passenger Carlton Maloney, 30, an audiovisual specialist at Manhattan's Pace University who was tape-recording the sound of the takeoff, cried into his microphone: "We are in trouble!"
Instants later, the jet smashed through a fence at the end of the runway. It crossed a busy highway, hit a truck and two cars, rammed into a shed and finally came to rest in a stubble field. Awash in jet fuel, the aircraft quickly caught fire. Said Irving Blatt, a professor at Rutgers University, who was sitting across from one of the stewardesses: "I saw the horror on her face as she looked at the back of the plane. When I turned, I saw the smoke and flames—at first outside and then almost immediately in the cabin."
While some passengers took pains to collect their baggage, others jumped the aisles, making their way to the yellow fire-resistant chutes that unfurled outside the emergency exits. Just before sliding down to safety, Stanley Miller of Rego Park, N.Y., turned to look back; his left cheek, ear and arm were seared by flames. Said he: "I shall never forget the screaming, never." Miraculously, most of those aboard, including the pilot and ten crew members, managed to get out of the plane. But 50, most of them seated in the rear of the plane, died in the inferno, and 15 others were listed in serious condition. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, assisting Spanish and McDonnell Douglas experts, thought the vibrations may have come from one or more blown tires. Another possibility: a failure in one of the DC-10's high-pressure, high-velocity turbofan engines. At week's end no one was venturing a definitive verdict.