Kiwi survivor's fireball terror

By SCOTT INGLIS

Tonia Joy could feel Singapore Airlines flight SQ006 twist and buck as it hit something on the tarmac taking off into the teeth of a Taipei typhoon.

"Flames came so fast on both sides of the plane," the 36-year-old New Zealander said as she was wheeled into an operating theatre at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan.

"I jumped out of the top and landed on the ground. The weather was just awful."

She was one of two New Zealanders who survived the crash of the giant Boeing 747-400, which burst into a fireball, sending debris hurtling through its cabin, killing and burning passengers, at Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek Airport yesterday.

The other New Zealander to survive the crash, Jay Aaron Spack, who has been living in Western Australia, was released from hospital last night.

The crash killed 78 people and has left Singapore Airlines' perfect safety record in ruins.

The airline's chief executive, Dr Cheong Choong Kong, learned of the tragedy while flying to Christchurch yesterday for the annual general meeting of Air New Zealand, which is 25 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines.

He immediately called a press conference to express his regrets to families and friends of the victims, then returned to Singapore to oversee the crash investigations.

In addition to the 78 dead, 85 passengers were admitted to hospital with injuries. Sixteen others walked away unhurt.

The death toll could rise because many of the injured suffered serious burns.

One passenger, burned over the entire body, was given little chance of survival by doctors at Chang Gung Hospital.

It is thought the crash occurred when the jet tried to lift off, struck a stray tyre or construction wreckage on the tarmac, and veered sideways in strong winds from a typhoon buffeting the airport.

It was the first serious disaster to strike Singapore Airlines, which runs a fleet of 36 747-400s, the world's largest passenger aircraft. The aircraft flies into New Zealand daily.

The airliner taxied and rolled down the Chiang Kai-shek Airport runway in torrential wind and rain, and disintegrated about 4.18 am (NZT).

If the plane did hit a tyre, the disaster is a grim echo of the July 25 Concorde crash outside Paris.

The Singapore Airlines pilot, Captain C.K. Foong, who joined the airline in 1979 and had 11,235 flight hours, reported hitting "an object" during takeoff. An airline official said investigators discovered a wheel at the scene that did not belong to the plane.

It was unlikely that the weather or mechanical problems were to blame for the accident, they said.

Mrs Joy, suffering back injuries, was one of dozens of survivors rushed to Taipei's hospitals.

She spoke to reporters briefly as medics rushed her into surgery at Chang Gung Hospital. Last night, she was in a stable condition. Her husband, Graeme, has left New Zealand to be with her.

Some desperate relatives lashed out bitterly at airport and airline officials as they waited for news of missing people at the airport.

"Don't tell me you are sorry. What if I kill your parents and tell you I am sorry?" said one outraged middle-aged Taiwanese woman.

Emergency workers, fighting driving rain, last night pulled the last bodies from the charred hulk.

Most of the dead and severely injured were in first class and business class. The disaster could have been far worse, but the plane was less than half-full for the 15-hour flight to Los Angeles.

The airline, one of the world's most profitable and cash-rich, announced it would provide all families of victims with $US25,000 ($63,532) compensation.

Survivors say the plane began to shake seconds after takeoff. Then an explosion blew debris through the cabin and the plane crashed back to the tarmac. "I could feel the aircraft shaking," said American Richard Maneth, aged 39, who walked away from the crash unaided.

"A few seconds after, the aircraft rolled to the left side. Flame was coming from the left side - I could see some people were burned."

The left side of the jet's nose had been destroyed by fire. The rear end and tail loomed out of the smoke on the tarmac.

American survivor John Diaz told CNN: "The weather was absolutely horrendous. I couldn't even believe they would go on to take-off ... It seemed like we were just getting ready to lift off and it felt like we hit something. And the next thing we know, the whole plane was shaking and gliding. It burst into flame right next to me.

"The whole side started to split, and then it slid to a stop."

Video footage showed the Boeing 747-400, with 159 passengers and 20 crew members on board, spewing flames and thick black smoke despite the typhoon.

The airline said the plane was bought new in January 1997 and underwent a maintenance check six weeks ago on September 16.

The crash is the second major air accident in Taiwan in less than three years.

In February 1998, a China Airlines Airbus crashed at Chiang Kai-shek airport, killing 196 people on board and seven on the ground.

An Auckland Airport spokesman said yesterday its runways are under constant surveillance in case of debris.