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1967 Nicosia Globe Air Bristol Britannia crash

20 Apr 1967 · 3.5 km south of Nicosia Airport

Bristol Britannia 313 · Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)

From Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) to EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (BSL)

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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
126 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
130
Survivors
4
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
3
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

Bristol Britannia 313

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
HB-ITB
Operator
Globe Air
Onboard fatalities
126
Route
From Don Mueang International Airport (DMK)To EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (BSL)

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

On 20 April 1967, a Bristol Britannia aircraft of the Swiss airline Globe Air flew into the ground 3.5 km south of Nicosia Airport, in Cyprus killing 126 of the 130 passengers and crew on board. This accident is currently the deadliest aviation accident to occur in Cyprus.

Accident

The Britannia was operating a charter flight bringing tourists from Bangkok in Thailand to Basel in Switzerland with stopovers in Colombo, Bombay, and Cairo. The flight stopped at Colombo in Sri Lanka and then Bombay in India with the next stop due to be Cairo. The crew diverted the flight to Nicosia due to bad weather at Cairo. The aircraft was on the third attempt to land on Runway 32 in a violent thunderstorm when it flew into a hill near the village of Lakatamia and burst into flames.

At the time of the crash, both pilots had exceeded their authorized duty time by three hours. The flight's first officer had less than 50 hours flying time in Britannia aircraft.

Two German (Christa Blümel and Peter Femfert) and two Swiss (Verena Gysin and Nicolas Pulver) passengers survived; three of them were seriously injured and were treated at a United Nations field hospital near Nicosia, the fourth, Nicolas Pulver, was reported to be unhurt.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1967 Nicosia Globe Air Bristol Britannia crash” (revision 1360165740, 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: 1967 Nicosia Globe Air Bristol Britannia crash
Article
1967 Nicosia Globe Air Bristol Britannia crash
Revision
1360165740 · 2026-06-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q1434079
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 "1967 Nicosia Globe Air Bristol Britannia crash" (page 25146747, revision 1360165740)
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
operator is an airline according to Wikidata
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.