28 April 1995 Sri Lanka Air Force Avro 748 shootdown
Avro 748-334 Srs. 2A · Shot down by LTTE guerillas
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
- 47 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 47
- 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
- Military
Avro 748-334 Srs. 2A
- Aircraft type
- Avro 748
- 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
- CR835 / 4R-HVB
- Operator
- Sri Lanka Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 47
- 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
Sri Lanka Air Force Avro 748 CR835 was shot down on 28 April 1995 by a SA-7 missile fired by the LTTE. The plane, an Avro 748-334 Srs. 2A airliner, was en route to Ratmalana Airport and was shot down soon after take-off from SLAF Palaly. All 47 crew and passengers were killed.
Following the breakdown of peace talks and resumption of hostilities in April 1995, the Sri Lanka Air Force maintained its routine flights in and out of Jaffna from SLAF Palaly. As per schedule a SLAF Avro 748, serial no CR835 (4R-HVB), took off from SLAF Palaly on 28 April 1995, crashed into the sea, killing all 47 crew and passengers, which included Wing Commander Roger Weerasinghe, Northern Zonal Commander of the SLAF and four Sri Lanka Army personnel, who had been wounded in a LTTE attack on Kayts Island the previous day.
Soon after take-off in heavy rain, the No.2 engine caught fire, prompting a return to Palaly, but on final approach the right wing failed and the aircraft crashed into the sea.
Initial response of the Sri Lankan military and government was that the crash was due to engine trouble, however, the next day another Avro 748 which was sent with an investigation team was also shot down, prompting SLAF headquarters to state that both Avro 748s were shot down.
Text from the Wikipedia article “28 April 1995 Sri Lanka Air Force Avro 748 shootdown” (revision 1359330141, 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: 28 April 1995 Sri Lanka Air Force Avro 748 shootdown
- Revision
- 1359330141 · 2026-06-14 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q18711516
- 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 "28 April 1995 Sri Lanka Air Force Avro 748 shootdown" (page 44731745, revision 1359330141)
- 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 armed force or military unit 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.