Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines Flight 4230 was a chartered international

passenger flight An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

, a

Yakovlev Yak-42D The Yakovlev Yak-42 (russian: Яковлев Як-42; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airlin ...

operated by

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

UM Airlines, which crashed in 2003. Flying from

Manas International Airport Manas International Airport ( ky, Манас эл аралык аэропорту, Manas El Aralyk Aeroportu ; russian: Международный аэропорт «Манас») is the main international airport in Kyrgyzstan, located north- ...

Bishkek Bishkek ( ky, Бишкек), ), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. The region surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of ...

, Kyrgyzstan to

Zaragoza Airport Zaragoza Airport ( Aragonese and es, Aeropuerto de Zaragoza; ) is an international airport near Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain. It is located west of Zaragoza, west of Barcelona, and northeast of Madrid. In addition to serving as a major cargo ai ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, the Yak-42D tried to land at

Trabzon Airport Trabzon Airport is an airport near the city of Trabzon in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. The airport opened in 1957. In 2009, it served 1,596,905 passengers, of which most (95%) were on domestic routes. In 2009, Trabzon Airport ranked 9t ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

to refuel on May 26, 2003, but, because of dense fog, it slammed into a mountain near

Maçka Maçka ( el, Ματζούκα, Matzoúka, the "club"; Laz: მაჩხა ''Maçxa'') is a town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The name derives from the medieval Greek '' Matzouka'', which was one of the pro ...

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the Bl ...

. All 13 crew and 62 passengers were killed. It remains the third-worst crash in Turkish aviation history.

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

embassy and Radio Farda: 18

ian passengers was dead including:

Esteghlal F.C. Esteghlal Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال استقلال, ''Bâšgâh-è Futbâl-è Esteqlâl''), commonly known as Esteghlal ( fa, استقلال, meaning 'The Independence'), is an Iranian football club based in capital Tehran th ...

and Iran national under-23 football team youth player

Arsham Niktabae Arsames ( peo, 𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠𐎶 Aršāma, modern Persian:،آرسام، آرشام‎ Arshām, Greek: ) was the son of Ariaramnes and the grandfather of Darius I. He was traditionally claimed to have briefly been king of Persia during th ...

and 6 Iranians were injured including :Another Iranian Iran national under-23 football team

youth player Amin Samareh Moradi British embassy also announced: Eight Britons killed and at least two injured

Accident

The Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines Yakovlev Yak-42 was a chartered aircraft being used to transport Spanish troops after a four-month peacekeeping tour of Afghanistan. The final destination was

, but the aircraft attempted to stopover at

in Turkey in order to refuel. The aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain near the town of

, from Trabzon, on its third attempt to land in dense fog. The pilot had stated that he could not see the runway; visibility was less than . All crew and passengers were killed in the impact. The troops on board comprised 41 members of the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and 21 members of the

air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

. The aircraft was also carrying ammunition; explosions after the crash distributed the wreckage over a large area.

Passengers and crew

Context

The aircraft had been chartered from the Ukrainian Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines by the Spanish defence ministry to return some of the 120 Spanish troops working as

International Security Assistance Force ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , comman ...

peacekeepers in Afghanistan. It was the third crash of a Ukrainian-operated aircraft within six months; an

Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-76; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a comm ...

had crashed on 9 May, killing around 14 people, and the previous December saw an Antonov An-140 crash in Iran with 44 fatalities.

Aftermath

Spanish defence minister

Federico Trillo Federico Trillo-Figueroa Martínez-Conde (born 23 May 1952 in Cartagena, Spain) is a former Spanish Politician of the People's Party, who has served as President of the Congress of Deputies, Minister of Defense and Ambassador of Spain to the Uni ...

stated, "the meteorological conditions and dense fog caused the drama." NATO Secretary-General George Robertson stated, "This is an appalling tragedy, given that these soldiers were serving the interest of peace in a difficult mission in Afghanistan." In 2004, the

Spanish government gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , da ...

sacked three generals after it was discovered that 22 of the victims' bodies had been misidentified and returned to the wrong families.

References

{{coord, 40.8068806, N, 39.6560722, E, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:TR, display=title 2003 disasters in Turkey 2003 in Turkey Aviation accidents and incidents in 2003 Aviation accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain Accidents and incidents involving the Yakovlev Yak-42 Aviation accidents and incidents in Turkey

Accident

Passengers and crew

Context

Aftermath

See also

References