DENVER - FEDERAL investigators planned to begin examining early on Monday the burned carcass of a Continental Airlines plane that veered off a runway in Denver and caught fire, injuring 38 people.

The twin-engine Boeing 737-500 was left in a shallow, snow-covered ravine where it came to rest after its aborted takeoff Saturday at Denver International Airport.

National Transportation Safety Board officials wanted to make use of scarce daylight hours to examine the wreck, measure skid marks and then conduct their first interviews of the pilots.

The accident forced the 115 passengers and crew aboard Continental's Flight 1404 to flee through emergency exits as the plane burned.

The jet had shed its left engine and both main landing gears, and caught fire. The entire right side of the jet was burned, and melted plastic from overhead compartments dripped onto the seats.

The plane veered off course about 600m from the end of the runway and did not appear to have got airborne, city aviation manager Kim Day said.

Mr Bill Davis, an assistant Denver fire chief assigned to the airport, said it was a miracle that everybody survived.

Flight data and cockpit voice recorders were recovered and sent for examination to Washington, D.C. It appeared both were in good condition, the NTSB said on Sunday.

The weather was clear but cold when the plane attempted to take off for Houston around 6.20pm on Saturday. Winds at the airport were 50kmh, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The runways are elevated so rain and snow will drain away.

'No other aircraft opted against taking off due to wind' before Flight 1404 tried to lift off, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.

Mr Davis, one of the firefighters who rushed to the scene, said the plane came to a rest about 200m from one of the airport's four fire stations. Passengers walked out of the ravine in minus 4 deg C cold and crowded inside the station, he said.

A crack encircled much of the fuselage near the trailing edge of the wings, Mr Davis said. There were 110 passengers and five crew members aboard, officials said.

Passenger Gabriel Trejos told KUSA-TV in Denver that the plane buckled toward its middle and that the seats felt like they were closing in on him, his pregnant wife and his 13-month-old son, who was on his lap. His knees were bruised from the seat in front of him.

Ms Maria Trejos told KUSA that there was an explosion and that the right side of the plane, where they were sitting, became engulfed in flames. The family used an emergency exit and slid down the wing of the jet to the ground.

Many passengers from the flight arrived in Houston, its original destination, on Sunday afternoon, some clearly injured, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The gate where relatives waited at Bush Intercontinental Airport was blocked off from the rest of the terminal. One woman limped off the flight with red-rimmed eyes; another was in a wheelchair, wearing a neck brace, the newspaper reported. A young boy was taken by stretcher straight to an elevator.

Mr Sumwalt, of the NTSB, said the damaged plane would remain for several days in the ravine where it landed. That runway will remain closed during the investigation, he said.

Mr Jim Proulx, a Boeing spokesman, said the company was supporting the NTSB investigation. He declined to comment on whether Boeing had any indication of possible problems with the 737-500 jetliner. -- AP