New Delhi - Jorhat

On November 5, 1977 at 07:42 PM, New Delhi - Jorhat experienced a crash involving Tupolev TU-124, operated by Indian Air Force - Bharatiya Vayu Sena, with the event recorded near Jorhat Assam.

The flight was categorized as government and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

20 people were known to be on board, 5 fatalities were recorded, 15 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 25.0%.

Crew on board: 11, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 9, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The airplane departed New Delhi-Palam Airport at 1703LT on an official flight to Jorhat-Rowriah Airport, carrying several members of the Indian Government, among them Morarji Desai, Prime Minister, P. K. Thungon, Minister of Arunachal Pradesh and John Lobo, Director of Indian Intelligence Services. On approach, the captain decided to initiate a go-around because the airplane was not properly aligned. Few minutes later, during a second attempt to land, the pilot failed to realize his altitude was too low when the airplane struck tree tops, stalled and crashed in a paddy field located few hundred meters short of runway threshold. The aircraft broke in two, the cockpit was destroyed and five crew members were killed. 15 other occupants were injured. Those killed were: Wg Cdr Clarence Joseph D’Lima, captain, S/Ldr Mathew Cyriac, copilot, Wg Cdr Joginder Singh, navigator, S/Ldr V. V. S. Sunkar, flight engineer, F/Lt O. P. Arora, flight signaller.

Aircraft reference details include registration V643, MSN 6 35 19 02, year of manufacture 1966.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 26.7591°, 94.2079°.