Brussels – Paris – Rome – Beyrouth – Karachi – Kunming – Shanghai

On December 23, 1947 at 12:00 AM, Brussels – Paris – Rome – Beyrouth – Karachi – Kunming – Shanghai experienced a crash involving Short S.29 Stirling, operated by Air Transport - Belgium, with the event recorded near Kunming Yunnan.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

30 people were known to be on board, 25 fatalities were recorded, 5 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 83.3%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 26, passenger fatalities: 21, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. Shortly after takeoff from Kunming Airport, while in initial climb, the aircraft stalled and crashed in a field located 3 km from the airport. Five passengers were seriously injured while all 25 other occupants were killed. It appears that three of the four engines failed shortly after rotation. All passengers were Belgian missionaries.

Aircraft reference details include registration OO-XAC.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 25.0899°, 102.9152°.