BOAC Flight 251

BOAC Flight 251 (flight number: BA251, radio callsign: SPEEDBIRD 251) was an intercontinental scheduled flight from London via Tripoli to Kano. On 26 May 1952 the pilots of a BOAC Handley Page HP.81 Hermes IV strayed far off course due to navigation errors on the leg from Tripoli to Kano and had to make an emergency landing with the aircraft in the Mauritanian desert when the fuel ran out. While the crew and passengers waited several days for help, the first officer died in the heat of dehydration and exhaustion five days after the accident.

Accident sequence

The aircraft was to operate a flight from Tripoli to Kano. The weather forecast predicted favourable weather conditions along the route and thunderstorms in Kano. Because the pilots used the Gyrosyn compass incorrectly and were also unable to determine the aircraft's position using standard procedures, they eventually became lost over the Sahara. The fuel was eventually almost exhausted, and it was decided to make an emergency landing with the landing gear retracted in the Mauritanian desert, in an area of rising sand dunes and rocky cliffs, about 114 km south-southeast of Atar, partly because nobody on board knew that Atar airfield would still have been within reach. As the aircraft skidded across the sand after touching down at 08:45 local time, the left wing broke off. No fire broke out and the aircraft could be evacuated without difficulty. Six passengers were slightly injured. Although various air traffic control units in West Africa had received an approximate position report from the aircraft before the emergency landing, the exact position of the aircraft was not known. Accordingly, the rescue operation was delayed after the emergency landing. According to the sketch map in the accident report showing the approach route of the rescuers, who were travelling from Atar by lorry and camel riders, the stricken aircraft had come to rest at approximately these coordinates:. The rescuers were held up by bad weather conditions (heat and sandstorms). The first officer died of exhaustion in the heat five days later.