Moscow – Chelyabinsk – Novosibirsk – Irkutsk – Chita

On May 18, 1973 at 09:38 AM, Moscow – Chelyabinsk – Novosibirsk – Irkutsk – Chita experienced a crash involving Tupolev TU-104, operated by Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines, with the event recorded near Chita Zabaykalsky Krai.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

81 people were known to be on board, 81 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 9, crew fatalities: 9, passengers on board: 72, passenger fatalities: 72, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is terrorism act, hijacking, sabotage. While in cruising altitude on the leg from Irkutsk to Chita, a hijacker went into the cockpit and ordered the crew to fly to China. Negotiations between the crew and the hijacker were unfruitful and after few minutes, a member of the militia shot the hijacker. Before dying, the hijacker was able to fire a system connected to several grenades attached to his belt. A huge detonation occurred in the cabin, causing the aircraft to disintegrate in the air. From an altitude of 6,500 meters, the airplane entered a dive and crashed in the taiga about 97 km west of Chita. Debris were found on a wide area and none of the 81 occupants survived the crash. Soviet Authorities later reported that the hijacker was a mental imbalance and explained his gesture by their recent refusal to grant him a job position within the diplomatic corps.

Aircraft reference details include registration CCCP-42411, MSN 8 2 03 03, year of manufacture 1958.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 52.0334°, 113.5009°.