 ZS-SAS, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen in October 1983 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 28 November 1987 |
| Summary | In-flight fire in cargo hold leading to loss of control and in-flight breakup[1] |
| Site | Indian Ocean 19°10′30″S 59°38′0″E / 19.17500°S 59.63333°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 747-244BM Combi |
| Aircraft name | Helderberg |
| Operator | South African Airways |
| IATA flight No. | SA295 |
| ICAO flight No. | SAA295 |
| Call sign | SPRINGBOK 295 |
| Registration | ZS-SAS |
| Flight origin | Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan |
| Stopover | Plaisance Airport, Plaine Magnien, Mauritius |
| Destination | Jan Smuts International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Occupants | 159 |
| Passengers | 140 |
| Crew | 19 |
| Fatalities | 159[2] |
| Survivors | 0 |
South African Airways Flight 295 (SA295/SAA295) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan, to Jan Smuts International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa, with a stopover in Plaisance Airport, Plaine Magnien, Mauritius. On 28 November 1987, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 747-200 Combi named Helderberg, experienced a catastrophic in-flight fire in the cargo area, broke up in mid-air, and crashed into the Indian Ocean east of Mauritius, killing all 159 people on board.[3][4] An extensive salvage operation was mounted to try to recover the aircraft's flight recorders, one of which was recovered from a depth of 4,900 metres (16,100 ft).
The official inquiry, headed by Judge Cecil Margo, was unable to determine the cause of the fire. This lack of a conclusion led to conspiracy theories, debates and speculation about the nature of Flight 295's cargo, as well as a subsequent post-apartheid investigation and calls from relatives of those on the flight to re-open the investigation in the years following the accident.[5] Since the accident, SAA stopped using the combi version of the Boeing 747 due to safety concerns about the security of the cargo compartment.
- ^ "Final Report ZS-SAS.pdf" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
ASN accidentwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Watt 1990.
- ^ Marsh 1994, p. 14.
- ^ Marsh 1994, p. 19.