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1994 Olsobip air accident

17 Dec 1994 · near Olsobip, Papua New Guinea

Mission Aviation Fellowship De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter · Collision with a mountain

From Tabubil Airport, Tabubil, Papua New Guinea to Selbang Airport, Selbang, Papua New Guinea

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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
28 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
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
0
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

De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter

Aircraft type
de Havilland DHC-6
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
P2-MFS
Onboard fatalities
28
Route
From Tabubil Airport, Tabubil, Papua New GuineaTo Selbang Airport, Selbang, Papua New Guinea

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Olsobip, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

The 1994 Olsobip air accident occurred on 17 December 1994, when a de Havilland Canada DHC-6-200 Twin Otter of the Mission Aviation Fellowship missionary organisation struck a mountain near Olsobip in Papua New Guinea. On the flight were 26 passengers and two crew members, and all were killed in the impact. It is the worst accident to have happened to a DHC-6.

The accident aircraft was on a charter flight and was carrying workers of the Ok Tedi copper and gold mine with their families. Among the passengers were also eight children. The DHC-6 Twin Otter has seats for 18 passengers, but because some of the children travelled on their parents' laps, the aircraft was not actually overloaded. The suspected cause of the crash was bad weather, which is common in mountain areas.

Translated into English with AI assistance from the Finnish Wikipedia article “Olsobipin lento-onnettomuus 1994” (revision 17450214, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article

Sources

Finnish Wikipedia article: Olsobipin lento-onnettomuus 1994
Article
Olsobipin lento-onnettomuus 1994
Translation
Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
Revision
17450214 · 2018-07-21 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Wikidata
Q55698449
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
fi Wikipedia article "Olsobipin lento-onnettomuus 1994" (page 1464221, revision 17450214), translated into English with AI assistance
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
centre of the town the Wikipedia infobox site names (GeoNames, CC BY 4.0)
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 is an airline according to Wikidata
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Finnish Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.