China Northern Airlines MD-82 plane crash
Off Dalian (yellow sea), China
Updated on
The aircraft was on a passenger flight from Beijing (China) and Dalian (China). The MD-82 was due to land at Dalian Airport
at 9:40pm local time. At 9:20, the Captain reported a 'cabin fire' to air traffic controllers, and four minutes later,
at 9:24, radio contact was lost as the aircraft disappeared from radar. The aircraft crashed into the Yellow Sea about
6 miles (10 kilometers) off the Dalian coast.
A few months later, the Chinese government issued a report which blamed the crash on a fire started intentionally by a
passenger, who was a terminally ill cancer patient. Before the flight, this passenger reportedly purchased seven flight
insurance policies totalling more than 1.5 million RMB ($187,500 US Dollars). Additionally, investigators searching his
apartment found a number of mineral water bottles filled with gasoline.
All the 112 passengers and crew members were killed in the accident.
Photos of the crash of China Northern Airlines (7th May, 2002)
Click on a photo of the accident to enlarge it
|  |  |