Monte Velino air disaster

The Monte Velino air disaster is an Italian civil aviation disaster that occurred on 8 March 1962.

The flight

Shortly before 23:00 on 8 March 1962 a Douglas DC-6B airliner built some ten years earlier and belonging to the Italian airline Società aerea mediterranea-SAM, registered I-DIMO, crashed into the slopes of Monte Velino at an altitude of about at about 125 metres from the summit. The site of the disaster can be reached via a path that starts from the locality of Valle Porclaneta below, near Rosciolo dei Marsi, a frazione of Magliano de' Marsi (AQ), in Abruzzo.After the impact, which was heard in the towns near the scene of the tragedy, the aircraft was completely destroyed. The search and recovery operations for the bodies were carried out by the fire brigade, the police forces and rescue teams, made up of many volunteers, who came to the site of the disaster from the nearby municipalities of Avezzano, Borgorose, Massa d'Albe and Tagliacozzo. The weather conditions, made difficult by the presence of snow on the mountain, created considerable difficulties in recovering the bodies of the victims, whose funerals were celebrated at the church of Santa Lucia in Magliano de' Marsi and in the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le mura in Rome. Military honours were paid to the coffins, covered with the tricolour.

The DC-6B, carrying no passengers, had on board 4 crew members and the captain, Salvatore Di Gaetano. All the occupants of the aircraft lost their lives in the disaster.