Lionair Flight 602
Antonov An-24RV · Shot down by a missile fired from a MANPADS
From Jaffna International Airport (JAF) to Colombo Ratmalana International Airport (RML)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 55 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 55
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Antonov An-24RV
- Aircraft type
- Antonov AN-24
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- EW-46465
- Operator
- Lionair
- Onboard fatalities
- 55
- Route
- From Jaffna International Airport (JAF)To Colombo Ratmalana International Airport (RML)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Lionair Flight 602 was a Lionair Antonov An-24RV which crashed into the sea off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka on 29 September 1998. The aircraft departed Jaffna Airport with 48 passengers and a crew of seven; it disappeared from radar screens ten minutes into the flight. Initial reports indicated that the plane had been shot down by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) using a man-portable surface-to-air missile, which has since been confirmed. All aboard were presumed killed.
Crash
The aircraft went missing ten minutes after taking off from Jaffna Airport at 13:40 on 29 September 1998 on a scheduled flight to Colombo; all those aboard were presumed killed. The pilot reported depressurisation a short time before contact was lost. Following the downing of Flight LN 602, all civil aviation between Colombo and Jaffna was suspended for many months by the Sri Lanka Civil Aviation Authority.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
In October 2012, the Sri Lankan Navy discovered wreckage which was believed to be the disintegrated parts of the missing Antonov on the sea bed off Iranaitivu Island. Information concerning the crash site was gained from a former LTTE cadre who had left Sri Lanka and was arrested on his return by the Police Terrorist Investigation Department. He confessed to having fired a missile at the aircraft from Iranaitivu Island on the orders of Poththu Amman, a leading member of the LTTE.
The Navy salvaged the first pieces of the wreckage in May 2013, nearly 15 years after the event. No trace of either black box (flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder) was found among the 30% to 40% of the aircraft's wreckage that was salvaged. Only a highly corroded and damaged debris was later identified as the auxiliary data recorder. Clothing and remains from 22 victims recovered in the salvage operation were put on display in Jaffna for identification in January 2014.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Lionair Flight 602” (revision 1363190049, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Lionair Flight 602
- Article
- Lionair Flight 602
- Revision
- 1363190049 · 2026-07-08 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q6555483
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Lionair Flight 602" (page 17892804, revision 1363190049)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.