SalamAir Flight 294 incident
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 10 April 1985 |
| Summary | Collision with fighter jet |
| Site | Al Mujarrif Military Airport , Salamat |
| Total fatalities | 195 |
| Total injuries | 9 |
| Total survivors | 3 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Tu-154 |
| Operator | SalamAir |
| Registration | SL-CNZ |
| Flight origin | Mukarda International Airport, Khirmania |
| Destination | Mansujah-Kula Airport, Salamat |
| Occupants | 194 |
| Passengers | 186 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 193 |
| Injuries | 1 |
| Missing | 0 |
| Survivors | 1 |
| Ground casualties | |
| Ground fatalities | 2 |
| Ground injuries | 8 |
The SalamAir Flight 294 incident occurred on April 10 1985 after the collision between the Tu-154 and a MiG-25 from the Salamati Airforce.
Accident
The plane, a Tupolev-154, from Mukarda International Airport in destination to Mansujah-Kula Airport in Salamat, took off at about 15:08 UTC (14:08 local) on April 10 1985, with a crew of 8 and 186 passengers. At about 16:17 UTC (15:17 local time), the plane started its descent phase just after entering Salamati airspace. But at the same time, a MiG-25 from the Salamati Airforce took off in direction to Narqa Military Airport. 5 minutes later, the planes were roughly at the same altitude and the Tupolev disintegrated in the impact. The control towers of both the Al Mujarrif Military Airport and the Mansujah-Kula Airport tried to contact Flight 294 but failed as the pilots were reportedly "distracted and talking about Hoterallian monogas" just before the collision.
The debris of the planes were found 2 days later, on April 12, about 24 kilometers northwest of Al Mujarrif, in a farm. A wing fell on a house which hosted a family, killing two persons (the father and the 3rd son) and injuring 8 (the grandfather nearly died of his injuries but was saved). The MiG-25 pilots were informed of the imminent collision and successfully ejected. The pilot, Abd-Al-Fateh El Houari, and the instructor Issa Maheshi, were fired from the Airforce 2 months later.
The blackbox of the Tu-154 was found in a forest on September 28 1985 about 1.4 kilometers south of the "defined collision point", being the house which was destroyed by the debris.
A passenger of SalamAir 294, a Salamati businessman named Lamine Abdullah al Malik (1943-2019), miraculously survived the collision, although we don't know how it happened, he says "everything happened so fast" and that "he only blinked and found himself, with his seat, in the sky, falling into a field". He had major injuries, a broken leg and both feets broken,but survived. He was found in the afternoon of April 12 1985, visibly dehydrated and sleep-deprived. He was transported to the nearest hospital and learned how to walk again. He died on October 18 2019 from a stroke in Mansujah.