Aeriantur-M Airlines Antonov AN-26B plane crash
Key facts
- Airline
- Aeriantur-M Airlines
- Aircraft
- Antonov AN-26B
- Location
- Balad, Iraq
- Date
- 9th January, 2007
- People on board
- 35
- Fatalities
- 34
Updated on
Accident account
The Antonov belonging to Aeriantur-M Airlines was chartered to fly Turkish construction workers to Iraq. The plane left
Adana, Turkey, for a 90-minute flight to the Balad Air Base, a US base in Iraq 80 km (50 NM) north of the capital Baghdad. There were 30
passengers and 5 crewmembers onboard.
On final approach, pilots missed the approach due to heavy fog and decided to perform a go around. On the second attempt,
the 25-year-old plane hit the ground 2,5 km short of runway and was destroyed.
The death toll from the crash had risen to 34. Only one passenger survived and suffered injuries.
Turkish officials have blamed bad weather and low visibility for the disaster, but an Iraqi government official on
Wednesday cited technical failure or human error as the possible cause. Investigators do not exclude terrorism:
in statements published on their web site, the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) claimed that they shot down.
Accident location
The aircraft (Antonov AN-26B)
