Cyprus Airways Flight 284

Cyprus Airways Flight 284 was a de Havilland Comet that exploded during a flight to Nicosia International Airport on 12 October 1967 after a bomb was detonated in the cabin. The airliner crashed in the Mediterranean Sea and all 66 passengers and crew members on board were killed.

Flight

BEA was a shareholder in Cyprus Airways, and the two airlines had an agreement for all of Cyprus Airways' jet services to be operated by BEA Comets. The night before the crash, the aircraft departed from London Heathrow Airport to Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, Greece, arriving just after 3:00 a.m. local time (1:00 a.m. UTC) on 12 October. At about 4:30 a.m., the aircraft departed Athens on the regular Cyprus Airways flight to Nicosia with 59 passengers and a crew of seven on board.

About 45 minutes into the flight, control of the aircraft was transferred from air traffic controllers (ATC) at Athens to their counterparts in Nicosia. The crew contacted Nicosia's controllers by radio, but when ATC replied, no response was received from the aircraft.

As Flight 284 was flying toward Cyprus at approximately 29000 ft, the aircraft exploded about 100 mi southeast of the Greek island of Rhodes and about 22 mi south of the Turkish coastal town of Demre.

The flight was scheduled to proceed to Cairo after stopping in Nicosia. Eight passengers were booked on a Middle East Airlines flight the next day.