Martinair Flight 138
| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 4 December 1974 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
| Site | Maskeliya, Sri Lanka |
| Passengers | 182 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 191 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-8-55CF |
| Operator | Martinair on behalf of Garuda Indonesia |
| Registration | PH-MBH |
| Flight origin | Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia |
| Stopover | Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Destination | Jeddah International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
Martinair Flight 138 was a chartered flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The aircraft was operated on behalf of Garuda Indonesia. On 4 December 1974, the aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-55CF, crashed into a mountain shortly before landing, killing all 191 people aboard – 182 Indonesian hajj pilgrims bound for Mecca, and 9 crew members.
The flight is said to have departed Surabaya, Indonesia at approximately 12.03 UTC heading to Jeddah planning a stop at Bandaranayake airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka. At around 16.30 UTC Colombo control cleared the flight. At 16.38 UTC another air traffic controller is said to have intervened and cleared the flight down to 5000 feet and reported clearing to 8000 feet. Colombo approach then cleared the flight down to 2000 feet at 16.44 and told the flight to expect a runway 04 approach. The crew aboard the flight were then asked to report when the airfield was in sight. The crew then continued their descent until the aircraft crashed into Saptha Kanya Mountain at an altitude of approximately 4,355 feet and at around 40 nm east of Colombo. All 191 passengers and crew were killed. The crash remains the worst in Sri Lankan aviation history and the third-deadliest involving a DC-8, after Arrow Air Flight 1285 and Nigeria Airways Flight 2120. At the time, it was the second-deadliest aviation accident, after the loss of Turkish Airlines Flight 981 which occurred earlier that same year.
The aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 which carried the registration PH-MBH built in 1966. It was fitted with Pratt and Whitney engines which were modified by KLM. The aircraft was owned by the Dutch company Martinair.
The crew of Flight 138 was Captain Hendrik Lamme, First Officer Robert Blomsma, Flight Engineer Johannes Wijnands, Purser Ingrid van der Vliet and Flight Attendants Henrietta Borghols, Abdul Hamid Usman, Lilik Herawati, Titia van Dijkum, and Hendrika van Hamburg.
The aircraft crashed on the fifth mountain of a range of hills known as "Saptha Kanya" at Therberton estate, Maskeliya, Sri Lanka. It crashed at around 40 nautical miles from Colombo International Airport, Katunayake.
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