Sabena Flight 712
Boeing 707 · On 13 July 1968 Sabena flight SN712, from Zaventem, Belgium to Lagos, Nigeria, crashed shortly before landing in Lagos
From Brussels Airport (BRU) to Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS)
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
- 7 · 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
- 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
- Airline
Boeing 707
- Flight
- SN712
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 707
- 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
- OO-SJK
- Operator
- Sabena
- Onboard fatalities
- 7
- Route
- From Brussels Airport (BRU)To Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 13 July 1968 Sabena flight SN712, from Zaventem, Belgium to Lagos, Nigeria, crashed shortly before landing in Lagos. The cargo flight, operated with a Boeing 707-329C with aircraft registration OO-SJK of the Belgian airline Sabena, was carrying 35 tonnes of weapons destined for the Nigerian government army. All seven occupants lost their lives in the crash.
The crash
The aircraft had taken off from Brussels Airport on 12 July 1968 at 21:52 bound for Murtala Muhammed International Airport with five crew members, two passengers and some 35 tonnes of weapons on board.
Just before landing on 13 July 1968 at 3:59, captain Paul Taminaux asked Lagos airport to switch on the runway lights. Shortly after that radio contact the aircraft crashed some 14 kilometres short of the runway. All occupants were killed instantly in the crash and the aircraft burned out completely. According to later investigations, the weather was bad at the time of the crash and the aircraft was already flying too low, as a result of which it hit the tops of the trees.
The investigation report of the Sabena experts, who visited the crash site two days later, and the medical report on the seven occupants disappeared without a trace.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Dutch Wikipedia article “Sabena-vlucht 712” (revision 71811800, 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
Dutch Wikipedia article: Sabena-vlucht 712
- Article
- Sabena-vlucht 712
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 71811800 · 2026-08-23 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q98918901
- 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
- nl Wikipedia article "Sabena-vlucht 712" (page 5490641, revision 71811800), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
- 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
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Dutch Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.