SURVIVORS of a 1985 Manchester aeroplane crash said yesterday that they were still awaiting an apology after 30 years.

The British Airtours plane bound for the Greek island of Corfu caught fire while travelling at 140mph during take-off on August 22 1985.

Two flight attendants and 53 passengers died, most from smoke inhalation, after the port engine of the Boeing 737 exploded.

The captain aborted the take-off and steered towards the fire station, but changing direction meant that flames spread to the rear of the aircraft.

Cheshire’s John Beardmore survived the blaze with his wife and two children.

“It’s about time they apologise and put one piece of the closure jigsaw in place,” he told the Manchester Evening News.

“It would only be one piece but, as a family, we strongly believe everybody should have survived and, yes, the engine blew out — but we were on the ground.”

June Somekh, from Greater Manchester, lost her sister Vera, her brother-in-law Raymond and her niece Susan.

“I know that an apology isn’t going to bring anyone back — but it will at least recognise that there was some wrongdoing,” she told the BBC.

“There was a lot of carelessness. It’s bad and I still feel angry.”

A BA spokesperson said that their thoughts were “very much with the families and friends of the customers and crew who died.”