Gulf Air Flight 771

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Gulf Air Flight 771
Gulf Air Boeing 737-2P6Adv A4O-BK.jpg
A4O-BK, the aircraft involved in the bombing
Bombing
Date23 September 1983 (1983-09-23)
Summary Terrorist bombing
Sitenear Al Buraimi
24°14′56″N55°45′22″E / 24.248889°N 55.756111°E / 24.248889; 55.756111
Gulf Air Flight 771
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 737-2P6
Operator Gulf Air
IATA flight No.GF771
ICAO flight No.GFA771
Call signGULF AIR 771
Registration A4O-BK
Flight origin Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan
1st stopover Abu Dhabi International Airport, United Arab Emirates
Last stopover Doha, Qatar
Destination Bahrain
Occupants112
Passengers105
Crew7
Fatalities112
Survivors0

Gulf Air Flight 771 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan, to Abu Dhabi International Airport, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. On 23 September 1983, while the Boeing 737-2P6 [1] was on approach, a bomb, planted by the Palestinian nationalist militant group, Abu Nidal Organization, exploded in the baggage compartment, resulting in a fire. The aircraft crashed in the desert near Al Buraimi, killing all 112, it is the deadliest plane crash in the history of Oman. [2]

Contents

Background

Aircraft

The aircraft involved, manufactured by Boeing in 1979, was a Boeing 737-2P6 registered as A4O-BK with serial number 21734 and line number 566. It was equipped with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 engines. [2] [3]

Crew and passengers

The flight's cockpit crew consisted of the following:[ citation needed ]

The cabin crew were of mixed nationalities, ranging from Filipino, Indian, Pakistani, and American; the sole Bahraini member, Hashim Sayed Abdullah, acted as a deputy purser and worked in the economy class cabin. [4] Two of the crew were from the United Kingdom; [5] one of them, Sally Anne Townsend, was a native of Peterborough, serving as chief purser on the flight.[ citation needed ]

There were 96 Pakistani nationals, many returning to jobs in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain after spending the Eid al Adha holiday with their families in Pakistan. There were also seven passengers from the United Kingdom, one from the United States, and one from Iran. [6] [7] [8]

NationalityPassengersCrewTotal
Bahrain022
India011
Iran101
Oman011
Pakistan96197
Philippines011
United Kingdom707
United States112
Total (8 Nationalities)1057112

Bombing

On 23 September 1983, while on approach to Abu Dhabi, the aircraft experienced an explosive detonation in the baggage compartment. [9] The aircraft did not break up mid-air, but a fire broke out immediately afterwards and the passengers are believed to have been killed instantly by asphyxiation. [4] As a result, the aircraft crashed into the desert near Al Buraimi. All 112 people on board, including 7 crew members and 105 passengers, were killed in the bombing. [7]

Investigation

The report was revealed in September 1987 by British politician Sir Dudley Smith, under pressure from the parents of Lyn Farthing, one of the two British flight attendants who perished in the crash. [4]

The report included a description of the last moments in the cockpit, including a description of Omani Captain Saoud Al Kindy praying as the plane nose-dived into the desert. [4] The report mentioned that everything on board the flight was perfectly normal and voice transcripts showed the crew chatting among themselves. One asked the other if he was on duty the next day, to which he replied "No, I've got a day off tomorrow". That was followed by a sudden interruption and the recording showed the pilots making a frantic attempt to control the plane. [4]

The report indicated a bomb in the baggage hold as the primary cause of the accident, due to the following factors: [4]

Aftermath

The bomb was planted by the Abu Nidal Organization to convince the United Arab Emirates to pay protection money to Nidal so as to avoid attacks on their soil. [10] [11] [12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Accident Synopsis". airdisaster.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  2. 1 2 Ranter, Harro. "Criminal Occurrence description". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Crash of a Boeing 737-2P6 in Abu Dhabi: 112 killed | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives". www.baaa-acro.com. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Airline crash caused by bomb, says report". Gulf Daily News. 23 September 1983. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016 – via thecrom.com.
  5. ↑ "Britons die in air crash". Cambridge Evening News . No. 29167. Cambridge. 24 September 1983. p.  1 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ The Gulf Times, Qatar, (24 September 1983)
  7. 1 2 "112 Aboard Airliner Are Killed in Crash in Persian Gulf Sheikdom". The New York Times. 24 September 1983. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  8. ↑ "Investigation into Gulf plane crash". UPI. News World Communications. 23 September 1983. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  9. ↑ Archive, Abdul Kareem, Head of (5 November 2018). "September 23, 1983: 112 killed in Gulf Air crash". Gulf News: Latest UAE news, Dubai news, Business, travel news, Dubai Gold rate, prayer time, cinema. Retrieved 12 February 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "Indiainfo.com -> News -> World -> Abu Nidal behind 1983 Gulf Air bombing: Aide". news.indiainfo.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2005. Retrieved 14 October 2025.
  11. ↑ "Al Arabiya show reveals how Abu Nidal blew up a Gulf plane in UAE skies". Al Arabiya. 20 August 2015.
  12. ↑ Elias, Bartholomew (14 September 2009). Airport and Aviation Security: U.S. Policy and Strategy in the Age of Global Terrorism. CRC Press. ISBN   978-1-040-08164-8.
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