1986 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crash

Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crash

Sections from the wreckage are now part of the Samora Machel Monument
Accident
Date	19 October 1986
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain due to lack of crew resource management and pilot error, possible intervention by South African troops (disputed)
Site	Mbuzini, Transvaal Province (present-day Mpumalanga), South Africa 25°54′41″S 31°57′26″E / 25.91139°S 31.95722°E / -25.91139; 31.95722
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Tupolev Tu-134A-3
Operator	Mozambique Airlines
Registration	C9-CAA
Flight origin	Maputo International Airport, Mozambique
1st stopover	Lusaka International Airport, Zambia
Last stopover	Mbala Airport, Zambia
Destination	Maputo International Airport, Mozambique
Passengers	35
Crew	9
Fatalities	34
Injuries	10
Survivors	10

On 19 October 1986, a Tupolev Tu-134 jetliner with a Soviet crew carrying President Samora Machel and 43 others from Mbala, Zambia to the Mozambican capital Maputo crashed at Mbuzini, South Africa. Nine passengers and one crew member survived the crash, but President Machel and 33 others died, including several ministers and senior officials of the Mozambican government.^[1]

A board of enquiry blamed the captain for failing to react to the Ground Proximity Warning System. Another theory was that the crew had set the aircraft's VOR receivers to the wrong frequency, causing them to receive signals from a different airport, or even that a false beacon had been used to lure the crew off course. While there was widespread suspicion in other nations that South Africa, which was hostile towards Machel's government at the time, was involved in the incident, no conclusive evidence was ever presented to support that allegation.