Berlin - Burgas

On August 14, 1972 at 05:01 PM, Berlin - Burgas experienced a crash involving Ilyushin II-62, operated by Interflug, with the event recorded near Königs Wusterhausen Brandenburg.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

156 people were known to be on board, 156 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 8, passengers on board: 148, passenger fatalities: 148, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The four engine aircraft departed Berlin-Schönefeld Airport at 1630LT on a charter flight to Burgas, carrying 148 passengers (144 East German citizens, three Austrians and one unknown nationality) and eight East-German crew members. Thirteen minutes later, while cruising at an altitude of 29,200 feet, the crew informed ATC about technical problems and was cleared to return to Berlin. The dumping fuel system was activated at 1651LT and three minutes later, as the situation worsened, the captain started an emergency descent. At 1659LT, he informed ATC that he was losing control of the airplane and declared a fire on board. Shortly later, the empennage detached and totally out of control, the airplane dove into the ground and crashed in flames in a wooded area located in Königs Wusterhausen, about 11 km southeast of Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. The aircraft was totally destroyed and none of the 156 occupants survived the crash. Up to date, this was the worst aircraft crash in the European History.

Aircraft reference details include registration DM-SEA, MSN 00702, year of manufacture 1970.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 52.3190°, 13.6721°.