| Date of Accident: | 23 November 1996 |  |
| Airline: | Ethiopian Airlines |  |
| Aircraft: | Boeing 767-260ER | |
| Location: | Comoros Islands, Madagascar | |
| Registration: | ET-AIZ | |
| Previous Registrations: | N6009F | |
| Flight Number: | 961 | |
| Fatalities: | 125:175 | |
| MSN: | 23916 | |
| Line Number: | 187 | |
| Engine Manufacturer: | Pratt & Whitney | |
| Engine Model: | JT9D-7R4E | |
| Year of Delivery: | 1987 | |
| Accident Description: | The aircraft was operating a scheduled passenger flight from Addis Ababa to Abidjan, via Nairobi, Brazzaville, and Lagos. Shortly after entering Kenyan airspace, three men seized the aircraft and demanded to be flown to Australia. Approaching the Comoros Islands, a group of islands off the coast of Africa near Madagascar, the aircraft began to run out of fuel. Despite orders from the hijackers to continue the flight to Australia, the Captain attempted to carry out an emergency landing at the airport on the island of Grande Comore. Shortly before landing, the aircraft ran out of fuel, and the Captain was forced to attempt to ditch the aircraft into the shallow, sheltered waters about 500 meters off Le Galawa Beach. As the aircraft came closer to the water, the hijackers began to physically assault the flight crew, causing the aircraft to bank left, the left engine and wingtip to strike the water, and the plane to break up and crash.
A couple celebrating their honeymoon on Grande Comore captured the aircraft's final seconds of flight, along with its subsequent crash, on video. The video may be downloaded from our Accident Videos section.. |
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| Related Links/Information: | Accident Photos - AirDisaster.Com Photo Database |
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