According to unconfirmed reports, there was a Bulgarian aboard the Spanair airliner that crashed at Madrid’s Barajas airport on August 20, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dimitar Tsanchev told Bulgarian news agency BTA on August 21.

The Bulgarian might be one of the victims, he said. “The relatives of the woman, who are in Spain, are in contact with our embassy in Madrid,” Tsanchev said.

Official confirmation of her identity would be possible after the identification of the bodies on August 21.

Spanair posted on its website a list of the passengers on the flight, without disclosing their nationality. The Sofia Echo’s check-up with the site proved that there is a female name in the list, which sounds Bulgarian.

The Canary Islands-bound plane crashed while trying to take off from Madrid. Reports said that it was just barely airborne when it veered right, crashed near the end of the runway and broke into pieces.

The number of the victims confirmed rose to 153, only 19 had survived, the Associated Press reported. Agence France-Presse said that the condition of four of the survivors was very serious, six were in bad condition and eight were being monitored. Only one of the surviving passengers has not been identified yet.

The total number of the identified passengers was 14 so far, development minister Magdalena Alvarez. The identification could take several days because “many bodies were burned beyond recognition and forensic teams are using DNA techniques,” she said, as quoted by AP.

Spanair said it did not know the cause of the crash yet, but according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, one of the two engines probably caught fire during take-off.

“The airline said the pilot of the US-built MD-82 airliner initially reported a problem with a gauge that measures temperature outside the plane. The take-off was delayed while the problem was repaired,” AP said.

Alvarez said that the plane was 15 years old and had passed an annual inspection in the end of 2007. Spainair claims that the last inspection of the plane took place on January 24 2008, Spanish newspaper ABC said. No problems with the plane had been reported since then, Sergio Allard, Spanair commercial director told ABC.

Spanish authorities had denied the possibility of a terrorist assault. Spanair spokeswoman Henrietta Ellekrog told BBC Radio 4 that the flight recorder of the plane's black box has been recovered.

Madrid and the Community of Madrid declared a national day of mourning and a silent vigil was planned for noon on August 21.