Three children escaped the Spanair jet inferno in which 153 people died after the plane crashed seconds after take-off.

However, all lost their parents or close relatives in the disaster.

And 19 other children, including two babies, died in the carnage, described by rescue workers as ‘like a scene from Hell’.

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Wrecked: The tail of the crashed Spainair plane sticks out as firefighters and members of rescue service work at the crash scene

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Relatives of one victim said he tried to leave the plane after finding there was a fault – but the crew would not allow it.

Ruben Santana Mateo sent his wife a text message reading ‘My love, there’s a
problem with the plane.’

Yesterday his 45-year-old wife Maria del Carmen showed journalists the message.

Their son Ruben, 22, said his mother received the message and she called him,
telling ‘him to get off, but my father told her they would not let him get off’.

In mourning: Spanish politicians stand outside Madrid city hall at noon to observe five minutes of silence in remembrance of the 153 victims

Royal sadness: Spain's Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Princess Letizia visit relatives and survivors

As Spain went into three days’ mourning, an official crash investigation began.

On its second take-off attempt, the plane shot off the runway, broke into pieces and burst into flames. Nineteen of those on board survived.

Airline officials declined to comment on possible causes but said Spanair Flight JK5022 to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands had earlier been delayed due to a problem with the air intake heating system.

‘They supposedly fixed the problem which the pilot later said was with the air conditioning and then we took off,’ survivor Ligia Palomino told Ser radio.

Spanair’s Javier Mendoza said a temperature problem was fixed before the second take-off, and experts thought it unlikely the fault was connected with the crash of the MD-82.

The black box flight recorders have been recovered and an independent commission will investigate.

Sources at the Civil Aviation Authority said the accident was probably caused by pieces from the failed left engine flying out.

Death toll: Funeral vans leave Madrid's IFEMA fairgrounds, where bodies from the Barajas airport crash were identified

Another theory is that the thrust reversers, normally used just as a plane touches down, were deployed on the Spanair jet.

Rescue workers said the only passengers to survive Spain’s worst aviation disaster since 1983 were those who fell into a stream and avoided severe burns.

The surviving children, Roberto Carretero Alvarez, six, Alfredo Acosta Mendiola, eight, and Maria Alonso Filloy, 11, were recovering well in hospital.

Alfredo’s father was killed and his mother was last night in a coma.

Maria’s father Jose Alonso Alonso was in a critical condition while mother Amalia Filloy Segovia and sister Amalia, 13, died. Roberto’s 16-year-old sister Maria also died.

Emergency: Injured passengers arriving at hospital after the crash

One rescue worker told how Alfredo cried for his parents as he was taken to hospital.

His family, from the village of Torralba de Calatrava in the province of Ciudad Real, 130 miles south of Madrid, were flying to the Canary Islands for a short holiday.

Fireman Francisco Martinez said of another young survivor: ‘I took a child into the truck and he thought he was in a film. But he asked, "When will this film end?” and, “Where is my Dad?”.’

The dead include 14 foreigners from nine countries including Germany, France and Bulgaria.

More than half were from the Canary Islands, including 13 from the town of San Bartolome de Tirajana. The British Embassy in Madrid said there was no indication any Britons were involved.

Pilot Antonio Garcia Luna, 38, and co-pilot Francisco Javier Mulet, 32, are among the 50 bodies that have already been identified.

Some may require DNA testing which could take up to 72 hours.

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