Gao – Tombouctou – Mopti – Bamako

On February 22, 1985 at 12:00 AM, Gao – Tombouctou – Mopti – Bamako experienced a crash involving Antonov AN-24, operated by Air Mali, with the event recorded near Tombouctou Tombouctou.

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.

52 people were known to be on board, 51 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 98.1%.

Crew on board: 6, crew fatalities: 6, passengers on board: 46, passenger fatalities: 45, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. Two minutes after takeoff from Tombouctou Airport, while climbing, one of the engine failed. The pilot-in-command elected to return for an emergency landing and initiated a turn when the aircraft stalled and crashed in a field located 3 km from the airport, bursting into flames. A passenger was seriously injured while 51 other occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration TZ-ACT, MSN 87304104, year of manufacture 1978.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 16.7687°, -3.0049°.