Biggest air crash marks 38 years

M.Nelson Piyaratne - Kataragama Group

Thirty eight anniversary of Sapta Kanya airplane crash, the biggest air crash happened in Sri Lanka, falls on December 4

R.H.Ranaweera, a building technician is an eye witness of this air crash which happened at Sapta Kanya mountain (seven virgin hills) near Maskeliya on December 4, 1974.

The airplane started its journey from Surabaya in Indonesia carrying 182 passengers and nine crew members. Its destination was to be Jeddah and all the passengers were Indonesian Haj Pilgrims to Mecca.

The plane was scheduled to land at the Bandaranaike International airport on its way. The aircraft which belonged to the Netherlands had been hired by Indonesia.

According to Ranaweera, he was the first person to see this accident and to prove this he had prepared a map of the incident depicting the altitude of the plane when it crashed against the hills.

He also has a mechanical instrument of the plane he picked up at the scene. Some friends and relatives of the victims had sent him letters requesting more details about the crash.