Beirut – Kuwait City

On January 6, 1954 at 03:52 AM, Beirut – Kuwait City experienced a crash involving SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc, operated by Air Liban, with the event recorded near Beirut Beirut Governorate.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

9 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 9 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 4, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. During the takeoff roll on runway 18, at a speed of 90 knots, the pilot-in-command encountered control difficulties while the aircraft veered to the left side of the runway. He took a corrective action but the airplane started to swerve. In such conditions, he decided to abandon the takeoff run and started an emergency braking procedure, closed the throttle and applied brakes simultaneously. The aircraft then veered off runway to the left at a speed around 50 to 60 knots and while contacting soft ground, lost its left main gear while both left engines struck the ground and came to rest in flames. All nine occupants evacuated safely while the aircraft was destroyed by fire.

Aircraft reference details include registration OD-ABU, MSN 14, year of manufacture 1945.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 33.8919°, 35.5109°.