747 cargo jet crashes on takeoff from brussels

A Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed at the end of a runway and split in two while trying to take off Lord's Day at the bruxelles airport, the authorization said.

Four of the five crew members on board the aircraft were somewhat injured and were hospitalized, said Jan Van der Cruysse, spokesman at the bruxelles airdrome.

"The plane is very earnestly damaged," he said. The aircraft cracked in two after it crashed at the end of Runway 220, which lies close to a rail line and houses.

Rail services to and from the airdrome were suspended as a safety precaution, nevertheless the crash did not affect other flights at the airdrome, Van der Cruysse said.

Francis Vermeiren, mayor of the nearby town of Zaventem, said the plane did not catch on fire when it crashed after attempting to take off. Vermeiren was coordinating rescue attempt at the airdrome.

"The plane is not on fire but it has split into two," he told VRT radio.

Firefighters coated the wings of the plane with fire-retardant foam as a safeguard because the plane was still full of jet fuel, the mayor said.

He said the plane was on a scheduled flight to Bahrain Island. It was not known what cargo the plane was carrying.

Vermeiren said the pilot had told the deliverance authorities he heard a loud noise while trying to take off just after noon. It was not yet clear what had caused the crash.

The plane is owned by Kalitta Air, a cargo bearer based at willow tree Run airdrome near Ypsilanti, Michigan, and makes habitue flights from bruxelles, officials said. A individual who answered the phone at Kalitta Air said Lord's Day morning that no one was instantly available to remark.