2002 Überlingen mid-air collision
Computer reconstruction of the moment of the collision between the Tu-154 and the Boeing 757. | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 1 July 2002 |
| Summary | Mid-air collision |
| Site | Überlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany 47°46′42″N 9°10′26″E / 47.77833°N 9.17389°E |
| Total fatalities | 71 |
| Total survivors | 0 |
| First aircraft | |
| Type | Tupolev-Tu-154M |
| Operator | BAL Bashkirian Airlines |
| IATA flight No. | V92937 |
| ICAO flight No. | BTC2937 |
| Call sign | BASHKIRIAN 2937[Note 1] |
| Registration | RA-85816 |
| Flight origin | Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow, Russia |
| Destination | Barcelona El Prat Airport, Barcelona, Spain |
| Occupants | 69 |
| Passengers | 60 |
| Crew | 9 |
| Fatalities | 69 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Second aircraft | |
| A9C-DHL, the aircraft involved in the accident seen in June 2002, four weeks prior | |
| Type | Boeing 757-23APF |
| Operator | DHL International Aviation ME |
| IATA flight No. | ES611 |
| ICAO flight No. | DHX611 |
| Call sign | DILMUN 611 |
| Registration | A9C-DHL |
| Flight origin | Bahrain International Airport, Manama, Bahrain[1][2] |
| Stopover | Orio al Serio Airport, Bergamo, Italy |
| Destination | Brussels Airport, Brussels, Belgium |
| Occupants | 2 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Fatalities | 2 |
| Survivors | 0 |
On 1 July 2002, BAL Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev Tu-154 passenger jet, and DHL International Aviation ME Flight 611, a Boeing 757 cargo jet, collided in mid-air over Überlingen, a southern German town on Lake Constance, near the German-Swiss border. All of the passengers and crew aboard both planes were killed, resulting in a total death toll of 71.[3]
According to eyewitnesses, immediately after the crash, several explosions were heard, the sky turned red, and then a series of burning pieces fell to the ground. The first television images showed the extent of the plane's destruction and the scattering of debris that reached the ground after the crash. The tragedy claimed the lives of 71 people, including children, adults, and the ship's crew. There were no survivors.
On February 24, 2004, Peter Nielsen, the air traffic controller on duty at the time of the collision, was killed in an apparent act of revenge by Vitaly Kaloyev, a Russian architect whose wife and two children died in the tragedy.
Notes
- ↑ Peter Nielsen referred to the flight as "Bravo Tango Charlie 2937" instead of the airline callsign.
References
- ↑ "Vain attempt to avert deadly crash". CNN. 2 July 2002. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
- ↑ "Mid-air collision of 1 July 2002: sequence of events" (Skyguide). Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "Passenger List". aktuell.ru (in German). Archived from the original on 29 October 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2008.