BBC REPORTER JOKES ABOUT MADRID AIR TRAGEDY

Chris Price told radio listeners that Rochdale “were making more holes in the Bradford defence than in a Spanish aircraft” during a live match report.

Yesterday the BBC was forced to issue an apology after a flood of complaints.

The death toll for the accident at Barajas airport on Wednesday has now risen to 154. Doctors are still trying to save two critically injured victims.

Price, 25, made the comment during a League Two match on Saturday at Bradford’s Valley Parade stadium. His furious bosses at BBC Radio Manchester were yesterday considering whether to axe him.

Price, from Rochdale, said he was trying to “add some colour” to his report but had made a “horrible mistake”.

He said: “I honestly thought I was being descriptive. It was not meant to be funny, it was just a descriptive phrase.”

Mike Brookes, media officer for Rochdale Football Club, said: “I did that job for the best part of 15 years and you have to try to be a bit quirky.

“But there is being different and then there is crass stupidity. ”