Tokyo – Los Angeles – Lima – Rio de Janeiro

On January 30, 1979 at 09:00 PM, Tokyo – Los Angeles – Lima – Rio de Janeiro experienced a crash involving Boeing 707, operated by VARIG - Viação Aérea Rio Grandense, with the event recorded near Pacific Ocean All World.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was flight at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

6 people were known to be on board, 6 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 6, crew fatalities: 6, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The four engine airplane departed Tokyo-Narita Airport at 2023LT on a cargo flight to Rio de Janeiro with intermediate stops in Los Angeles and Lima. There were six crew members on board as well as 53 paintings by Manabu Mabe, returning from a Tokyo exhibition, valued at US$1.24 million. At 2045LT, the last radio transmission was recorded with ATC and about 15 minutes later, while in cruising altitude, the airplane disappeared from the radar screens. SAR operations were immediately initiated by Japanese and American Authorities but eventually suspended after several days as no trace of the aircraft nor the six occupants was found. The captain, Gilberto Araújo da Silva, was flying the Varig Boeing 707 that crashed while approaching Paris-Orly Airport on July 11, 1973.

Aircraft reference details include registration PP-VLU, MSN 19235, year of manufacture 1961.