Wikipedia

1985 Air Mali Antonov An-24 crash

On 22 February 1985, an Air Mali Antonov An-24V operating a domestic flight in Mali from to Gao International Airport, Gao, to Mopti Airport, Sévaré, crashed on takeoff from Timbuktu Airport, Timbuktu, where the flight had a stopover, after suffering from an engine failure in a sandstorm. Of the 52 occupants on board, 51 were killed, including Attaher Maïga, a former Malian member of parliament and minister, and 13 foreign nationals, most of whom of were United Nations humanitarian workers.[1] The crash temporarily halted flights to Timbuktu.

1985 Air Mali Antonov An-24 crash
TZ-ACT, the aircraft involved in the accident, pictured in 1972
Accident
Date22 February 1985 (1985-02-22)
SummaryCrashed whilst returning to the airport following an engine failure on takeoff
Site
Map
Aircraft
Aircraft typeAntonov An-24V
OperatorAir Mali
RegistrationTZ-ACT
Flight originGao International Airport, Gao, Mali
1st stopoverTimbuktu Airport, Timbuktu, Mali
DestinationMopti Airport, Sévaré, Mali
Occupants52
Passengers46
Crew6
Fatalities51
Injuries1
Survivors1

Aircraft

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The aircraft involved was an Antonov An-24V registered as TZ-ACT with MSN: 87304104. It was manufactured in 1968 in the Soviet Union. It had Ivchenko AI-24 engines.[1]

Accident

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The aircraft operated by Air Mali was scheduled to fly a domestic route in Mali from Gao International Airport to Mopti Airport, with an intermediate stopover at Timbuktu Airport. About two minutes after takeoff, the aircraft suffered an engine failure after the engine reportedly caught fire and exploded. The crew attempted to perform an emergency landing at the airport. However, the aircraft crashed in the Sahara about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of the runway. It burned down after two hours. There were 52 people on board, including 46 passengers and 6 crew members, with 51 of the occupants being killed. The sole survivor, a Malian citizen, was hospitalized in serious condition.[2][3][4]

Victims

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Nationality Count
Algeria 1
Belgium 1
France 1
Italy 1
France 1
Mali 39
Netherlands 3
United States 3
Total (8 nationalities)52

Of the 51 victims of the crash, 38 were Malian and 13 were from other countries. Of the 13 foreign passengers, which included three Americans, three Dutch, a Belgian, an Italian, a French and an Algerian, most were workers of United Nations humanitarian programmes active in the area, such as the United Nations Development Programme.[5] The three Dutch people were first named to be people of the United Nations:[6] two business people and a volunteer of the UNICEF programm.[7]

Former Malian politician Attaher Maïga was killed in the crash. He was a member of parliament in the late 1950s and later served as finance minister and afterwards as trade minister. He served under the presidency of Modibo Keïta.[8][9]

Aftermath

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Access and communication was hampered at the time of the accident due to violent sandstorms that had raged for 10 days in the Sahara.[3] An embassy delegation was not able to reach the crash site soon due to the severe weather conditions.[2]

The scheduled flight was the only commercial flight to Timbuktu. By 3 September 1985, flights had not resumed.[10]

Following this accident the debts of Air Mali increased. It followed that the government was forced to close down the airline in 1988.[11] The operations Air Mali was taken over by Malitas in 1989.[12]

References

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  1. 1 2 "Accident Antonov An-24V TZ-ACT Friday 22 February 1985". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  2. 1 2 "An Air Mali passenger plane caught fire over the..." United Press International. UPI. 22 February 1985. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  3. 1 2 "50 of 51 Die as Plane Crashes Near Timbuktu". Los Angeles Times. 23 February 1985. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  4. ↑ "Vliegramp bij Timboektoe: 50 doden" [Timbuktu plane crash: 50 dead]. Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 23 February 1985. Retrieved 1 June 2025 – via Delpher.
  5. ↑ "Mali Airline Says 3 Americans Died in Crash Near Timbuktu". The New York Times. Reuters. 24 February 1985. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  6. ↑ "Vilegramp Mali kost leven aan 3 Nederlanders" [Mali plane crash claims the lives of 3 Dutch people]. Trouw (in Dutch). 25 February 1985. Retrieved 26 August 2025 – via Delpher.
  7. ↑ "Slachtoffers vliegramp geïndentificeerd" [Plane crash victims identified]. Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 25 February 1985. Retrieved 26 August 2025 – via Delpher.
  8. ↑ Allan Espenberg (21 June 2017). "Mali esileedi, presidendi salarelv". naisteleht-digi.ohtuleht.ee (in Estonian). Retrieved 26 August 2025.
  9. ↑ "Air Mali Crash Kills 50 at Timbuktu". The Washington Post. 22 February 1985. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  10. ↑ "Timbuktu: A magical name that will live as long as time". The Miami Herald. 3 September 1985. p. 2. Retrieved 26 August 2025 – via newspapers.com. There used to bee a weekly commercial flight, but in February the Air Mali plane was caught in a sandstorm an crashed near Timbuku's airstrip, killing 51 persons. Flights have not resumed.
  11. ↑ Klee, Ulrich; Sommer, Ernst; Bucher, Frank E. (1988). JP Airline-fleets International (88 / 89 ed.). Bucher & Co.
  12. ↑ Stamm, Andrea L.; Bastian, Dawn Elaine; Myers, Robert A. (1998). Myers, Robert A. (ed.). Mali. Clio Press. ISBN 1-85109-166-1.
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