Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z bombing

Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z
A similar aircraft registered VR-HGG
Bombing
Date 15 June 1972
Summary Aviation bombing
Site Over Pleiku, South Vietnam
Aircraft
Aircraft type Convair CV-880-22M-21
Operator Cathay Pacific
Registration VR-HFZ
Flight origin Singapore International Airport[1]
Singapore
Stopover Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok
Thailand
Destination Kai Tak Airport
Hong Kong
Passengers 71
Crew 10
Fatalities 81 (all)
Survivors 0

Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z was a flight flown and operated by Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific that crashed on 15 June 1972.

Flight

Flight 700Z originated from Singapore International Airport[1] (Now Paya Lebar Air Base) and had a stopover at Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport, with the final destination being Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport.

While flying at 29000 ft (8,839 m) (FL290) over Pleiku, South Vietnam, a bomb placed inside a cosmetics case placed under a seat exploded, resulting in the aircraft's disintegration. All 71 passengers and 10 crew on the flight were killed.

Aftermath

Following a UK Civil Aviation Authority and Hong Kong police investigation, as well as six years of reporting by a Bangkok Post journalist,[2] "a police officer whose fiancée and daughter were aboard was charged with the crime".[3] Somchai Chaiyasut, who had taken out three travel insurance policies on his fiancée and daughter, was declared not guilty due to lack of evidence.[4] He sued the insurance companies and received 5.5 million baht but died of cancer in 1985 after "airline staff and relatives [had considered] hiring a hitman to kill him".[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Some sources state the flight's origin as Changi Airport, but since Changi Airport opened in 1981, this is not possible. Singapore's international airport at the time is now the Paya Lebar Air Base.
  2. 1 2 McBeth, J. (2011), Reporter. Forty Years Covering Asia, Talisman Publishing, Singapore, p. 34., ISBN 9789810873646
  3. ↑ Criminal Occurrence description at the Aviation Safety Network
  4. ↑ Accident synopsis at airdisaster.com Archived 24 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine.


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