Turkish Airlines flight 634 – 8 January 2003
Unfortunately, there are many fatal accidents in aviation history. Let’s take a look at the plane crash that took place in Diyarbakir Turkey on January 8, 2003. Let’s take a look at Turkish Airlines flight 634.
Turkish Airlines flight 634 was on the Istanbul-Diyarbakir flight on January 8, 2003. The plane took off from Istanbul Atatürk Airport at 18.35 local time. The aircraft was of type Avro RJ 100 and its name was Konya. Unfortunately, the plane crashed into the sloping terrain near Diyarbakir Airport. 5 people were seriously injured and 75 people died in the accident.
On the day of the accident, there was heavy fog in Diyarbakır. The meteorological conditions that day were bad for the planes. At the time of the accident, there was no instrument landing system at Diyarbakır Airport. Despite the heavy fog, the pilots continued to approach the airport. The last contact between the pilots and the Diyarbakır tower was when the plane was at an altitude of 2800 ft, that is, 850 meters. Contact between the aircraft and the Control tower was lost at 20:19 local time.
Crash of Turkish Airlines flight 634
The airplane was approaching to Runway 39. The plane crashed at around 20:19 local time, about 900 meters from the runway. There were 75 passengers (three infants) and 5 crew members on board. The impact of the crash broke the plane into three pieces, and a part of the plane could only come to a stop after being dragged 200 meters. Meanwhile, the plane caught fire and started to burn due to the impact. Some passengers who survived the crash are thought to have died from this fire. The wreckage of the plane spread over an area of 800 meters.
Minutes after the accident took place, the soldiers of the Air Force Command reached the accident site and the rescue efforts began. The injured were immediately taken to Diyarbakır State Hospital, Dicle University Faculty of Medicine and Diyarbakır Military Hospital. A total of 75 people died in the accident.
