An-12 crash near Kabul (1986)
Soviet Air Force (50th Separate Mixed Aviation Regiment) Antonov An-12 · Missile attack (shot down by MANPADS)
From Kabul to Jalalabad
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
- 31 · 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
- Military
Antonov An-12
- Aircraft type
- Antonov AN-12
- 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
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- 31
- Route
- From KabulTo Jalalabad
Approximate · Estimated position: Kabul, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The An-12 crash near Kabul (1986) was an aviation disaster that occurred on 29 November 1986 in the DRA. A Soviet Air Force An-12 cargo aircraft was operating a cargo-passenger flight on the Kabul—Jalalabad route, but shortly after takeoff it was shot down by a MANPADS and crashed to the ground. All 31 people on board were killed — 23 passengers and 8 crew members.
Crash
On 29 November 1986, An-12 aircraft number USSR-11987 of the 1st Aviation Squadron of the 50th Separate Mixed Aviation Regiment was operating a flight from Kabul to Jalalabad; on the return flight it was planned to pick up the bodies of fallen servicemen for transport to burial places on the territory of the USSR ("Cargo 200"). On board were 23 passengers (including a group of special forces officers of the 15th Special Purpose Brigade of the GRU of the General Staff) and cargo (several tonnes of S-24 rockets and 400 kilograms of explosives). In violation of the order in force, passengers were being carried while there was explosive cargo on board.
Shortly after departure from Kabul Airport, at an altitude of 6400 metres, 24 kilometres from the airport, the An-12 was hit by a missile fired from a Stinger man-portable air-defence system. The aircraft was destroyed by the explosion of the detonated ammunition cargo. All 31 people on board were killed.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ан-12 под Кабулом (1986)” (revision 150986539, 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
Russian Wikipedia article: Катастрофа Ан-12 под Кабулом (1986)
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 150986539 · 2026-01-03 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q65158510
- 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
- ru Wikipedia article "Катастрофа Ан-12 под Кабулом (1986)" (page 7815036, revision 150986539), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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 Russian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.