Madrid - At the start of what became a journey into catastrophe was a take-off like any other. The plane taxied to its starting position at Madrid airport and began rolling down the runway.

But then it happened.

The McDonnell-Douglas MD-82 of the airline Spanair did not rise up into the blue skies above the Spanish capital, but instead merely edged up just a few metres above the ground, raced over the end of the runway, and then vanished into a hollow.

"I saw how the plane was torn into several pieces," one motorist who had witnessed the accident from the motorway reported.

"Then there was a powerful explosion. At first I thought that the plane was about to land. But then it veered off suddenly to one side and with its right wingspan it burrowed into the earth."

At least 153 people were killed.

A huge plume of smoke rose up from the crash site. The fire department deployed helicopters to douse the blazing plane and the surrounding grass. When rescue teams arrived, they encountered scenes of horror.

"It did not even look like an airplane any more," a policeman said. "I imagine this is what hell must be like."

Another policeman added: "Everything was black and burned. The corpses were so charred that we burned our fingers in carrying them away."

One rescue team member said it was a miracle that anyone at all had survived the inferno.

"The corpses in the wreckage were charred, many were mutilated."

Some 60 ambulances rushed to the crash scene. But many simply turned right around, because in the end, there were so very few survivors to rescue.

The dead were taken by hearses to a hall in the Madrid fairgrounds. Scenes followed which brought up horrific memories for Madrid's residents of the aftermath of terror bombings on commuter trains four years ago in which 191 people were killed.

Now, after the plane crash, the very same fairgrounds building was used as a mortuary.

At both airports in Madrid and Gran Canaria - the destination of the Spanair flight - hundreds of relatives hung around for hours, waiting on word about their spouses, parents, siblings and children.

"My sons," wailed one woman. "My daughter."