Passenger on Doomed Flight Denied Exit

The cabin crew of the Spanish flight which crashed on take-off yesterday denied a passenger’s request to leave the plane after it experienced technical problems, the Times of London reports. The man texted his wife about the plane’s malfunctions two hours before the accident at Madrid’s airport, which killed all but 19 of the 172 aboard the Spanair MD-82 jet.

The wife told reports she called her husband back (neither has been identified) and urged him to leave the plane, but he told her, “They won't let me off.” Said the woman's 22-year-old son, “My mother called him and said that he should get off but my father said they would not let him.” (More Spanair stories.)