1950 Bahrain Air France Douglas DC-4 crashes

Two Air France Douglas DC-4 aircraft crashed two days apart in June 1950 within a few miles of each other and under similar circumstances. These two accidents, on 12 and 14 June, occurred while the aircraft were operating the same route from Saigon to Paris. Both aircraft had stopped at Karachi Airport and crashed into the sea on approach to Bahrain. A total of 86 passengers and crew were killed: 46 on June 12 and 40 on June 14. There were a total of 19 survivors: 6 on June 12 and 13 on June 14.

Accident of 12 June 1950

Douglas DC-4 Ciel de Picardie (F-BBDE) was on a scheduled flight from Saigon to Paris and had departed at 16:05 from a stopover at Karachi for another stopover at Bahrain. At 20:42 it called Bahrain approach reporting at 6500 feet and asking for clearance to descend. It was given permission to descend to 2000 feet. The aircraft overflew the airfield at about 1000 feet and at 21:13 reported as being on the down wind leg of the approach, the tower passed the wind speed and direction. At 21:15 the aircraft reported "finals" and the tower gave permission to land on Runway 29. The aircraft hit the water and crashed. After an eight-hour search the aircraft was found in 12 ft of water 3.3 miles from the end of the runway; 46 of the 52 occupants had been killed. Three survivors were found soon after the accident by a ship and three others were rescued by helicopter after eight hours in the water. All on board were French other than one stateless person. The French writer François-Jean Armorin was on board. This crash was the deadliest since the Llandow air disaster, three months earlier, which killed 80.

Accident of 14 June 1950

Two days later, Douglas DC-4 Ciel de Gascogne (F-BBDM) was flying the same scheduled route from Saigon to Paris and as before had departed its Karachi stopover (this time at 16:43) for the stopover at Bahrain. At 21:41 it called Bahrain to report as being overhead. At 21:52 the aircraft reported "Procedure Turn" and the tower gave permission to land. The aircraft hit the water and crashed within 1 mile of the previous accident. After a search a ship reported picking up survivors at 02:00; 40 of the 53 occupants had been killed. Most of the passengers and the crew were French with two Vietnamese and two Chinese. At least 13 of the passengers were children.

The New York Times reported the incident as so:

"PARIS, Thursday, 15 June—A second four-engine Air France airliner with forty-five passengers aboard crashed into the Persian Gulf last night near Bahrein

Island, at approximately the same place where forty-six persons were lost two days before in another Air France crash. First reports said eleven persons

so far had been saved in the second crash. Both aircraft were en route from Saigon, Indo-China, to Paris. Last night's crash was the third French air disaster in three days, sixteen men being lost in a Madagascar flight."

("New York Times," 15 June 1950)