1977 Libyan Arab Airlines Tu-154 crash
Libyan Arab Airlines leased from Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 · Forced landing after fuel exhaustion
From Jiddah International Airport, Saudi Arabia to Benina International Airport (BEN)
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
- 59 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 165
- Survivors
- 106
- 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
Tupolev Tu-154
- Aircraft type
- Tupolev TU-154
- 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
- LZ-BTN
- Onboard fatalities
- 59
- Route
- From Jiddah International Airport, Saudi ArabiaTo Benina International Airport (BEN)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 2 December 1977, a Tupolev Tu-154 passenger jet ran out of fuel and made a forced landing near Benghazi, Libya. A total of 59 passengers were killed.
Accident
The aircraft took off from Jiddah International Airport in Saudi Arabia on a flight to Benina International Airport in the Libyan city of Benghazi with a crew of six and 159 passengers – pilgrims returning to Libya from the Hajj – on board. Egyptian airspace was closed to Libyan aircraft at the time, necessitating an indirect route to Benghazi instead of the direct route across Egypt; the crew reportedly did not plan for the longer flight time, leaving the aircraft short of fuel. As the aircraft neared Benghazi, heavy fog blanketed the airport and the pilots could not land the aircraft. After failing to locate the alternate airport, the aircraft ran out of fuel and made a forced landing, killing 59 out of the 165 on board.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1977 Libyan Arab Airlines Tu-154 crash” (revision 1371985048, 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: 1977 Libyan Arab Airlines Tu-154 crash
- Revision
- 1371985048 · 2026-08-29 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4577581
- 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 "1977 Libyan Arab Airlines Tu-154 crash" (page 28128511, revision 1371985048)
- 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 named as an airline in the infobox
- 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.