1972 жылғы Cathay Pacific ұшағының жарылысы

1972 airliner bombing

Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z was a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific used a Convair CV 880 aircraft that crashed in South Vietnam on the afternoon of 15 June 1972. The cause was determined to have been an explosive device, likely located within the passenger cabin. A suspect in the bombing was acquitted at trial. Flight 700Z originated from Singapore International Airport

The wreckage was located in "lightly wooded" terrain, still burning, not long after Saigon ACC lost contact. Although two bodies were retrieved almost immediately, the presence of hostile forces nearby made it very difficult to examine the wreckage in depth. The spread of debris suggested that the airplane had broken into three large sections, with the breakpoints almost exactly along the front and rear of the wingbox, prior to hitting the ground, and the relative closeness of these sections suggested that this breakup had occurred at a low altitude. Other debris, including two engines and the horizontal stabilizer, could be seen further away from helicopters, but could not be reached on foot due to war activity. The aircraft's flight data recorder was recovered and read; it showed that the airplane was flying on course at 29,000 feet (8839 m) at a speed of until 0559 GMT (1259 local time), at which point the recorded data became nonsensical for 30 seconds before stopping entirely. The aircraft was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder. Somchai Chaiyasut, who had taken out three travel insurance policies on his fiancée and daughter, was declared not guilty due to lack of evidence. He sued the insurance companies and received 5.5 million baht ($US ). He died of cancer in 1985. It was reported that "airline staff and relatives [had considered] hiring a hitman to kill him".