Madrid - The Spanair plane involved in a crash that killed 154 people in Madrid in August attempted to take off without opening its flaps and slats, according to the 12-page preliminary report on the accident released Thursday in Madrid by the Spanish Public Works Ministry.

The document said that the wreckage of the MD-82 showed the malfunction, but the pilots would not have known there was a problem because the alarm signal did not go off.

The report said "no sound related to the warning system about an inadequate configuration of take-off" could be heard on the plane's black box flight recorders.

The investigation showed that the plane's two engines behaved as they should have.

The results of the investigation had largely been leaked to the media weeks earlier, causing controversy in Spain. Relatives of the victims further complained that the media broadcast a video of the crash.

The definitive report on the crash is not expected for one or two years, and the investigation is ongoing.

The plane was leaving for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands when it crashed and caught fire just after take-off at Madrid's Barajas airport.

Only 18 people survived the accident - the most serious in Spain in 25 years - and they were badly injured. (dpa)