South African Airways Flight 295
1987 aviation accident in the Indian Ocean
South African Airways Flight 295
South African Airways Flight 295, sometimes referenced and known as the Helderberg disaster, was a scheduled international passenger flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan, to Jan Smuts International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa, with a stopover in Plaisance Airport, Plaine Magnien, Mauritius. On November 28, 1987, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 747 named Helderberg, experienced a catastrophic in-flight fire in the cargo area, broke up in mid-air, and crashed into the Indian Ocean east of Mauritius, killing all 159 passengers and crew on board. An extensive salvage operation was mounted to try to recover the aircraft's flight recorders, one of which was recovered from a depth of 16,100 feet (4,900 m). The official inquiry, headed by Judge Cecil Stanley Margo, was unable to determine the cause of the fire. This lack of a conclusion led to theories, debates, and speculation about the nature of Flight 295's cargo, as well as a subsequent post-apartheid...
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