El Al Cargo Plane Crashes
(October 4, 1992)
On October 4, 1992, an El Al Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed shortly after take-off in the outskirts of Amsterdam in the Netherlands after the pilot sent a distress call that two of the plane’s four engines had failed. The pilot attempted to return to the airport to make an emergency landing but the plane came down in a residential neighborhood.
All four members of the crew were killed as were 47 on the ground where homes caught fire and were hit by falling debris.
The crash was the first in El Al’s history and attributed to metal fatigue that were thought to have damaged the engine mountings.
In 1998, it was reported the plane carried at least one ingredient used to make sarin gas. Residents in the area where it crashed reported a variety of health problems. A year later a report censured the government for failing to do a more comprehensive investigation.
Source: “On This Day October 4, 1992, BBC.
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