Boeing 707 crash, Nov 26, 1979 (156 killed), At Ta'if Mak...
Boeing 707 accident on November 26, 1979 near At Ta'if Makkah l-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia with 156 fatalities. Cause: In-flight fire in the cabin area...
- Date: November 26, 1979
- Aircraft: Boeing 707
- Location: At Ta'if Makkah l-Mukarramah, Saudi Arabia
- Fatalities: 156
- Phase of flight: En route
- Cause: In-flight fire in the cabin area which, through its intensity and rapid extension, resulted in panic among the passengers and smoke in the cockpit, eventually incapacitating the flight crew. The Saudi-led investigation judged that leaking stoves carried by pilgrim passengers most likely ignited.
On 26 November 1979, a Boeing 707-340C (AP-AWZ) operating Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740 from Kano to Karachi via Jeddah developed an in-flight fire in the cabin. Smoke entered the cockpit and incapacitated the flight crew, and the aircraft crashed in a desert area near Taif, Saudi Arabia, disintegrating on impact. All 156 occupants (145 passengers and 11 crew) were killed.