The 1968 Sainte-Marie Douglas DC-6 crash was an aviation accident that occurred on the island of La Réunion, a French overseas department in the southwestern Indian Ocean, on the evening of 9. A military Douglas DC-6 aircraft taking off from Gillot Airport at 23h 15' crashed two minutes later in the commune of Sainte-Marie, Réunion, resulting in the deaths of sixteen people, including French General Charles Ailleret. This aviation accident remains the deadliest in the history of La Réunion.
 | |
| Post-takeoff crash. | |
|---|---|
| Date | 9 March 1968 |
| Site | Sainte-Marie, Réunion, France |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-6 |
| Flight origin | Gillot Airport |
| Occupants | 17 |
| Fatalities | 16 |
| Survivors | 1 (a Flight nurse) |
Aircraft
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Disaster
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Departing from Gillot at 23:00, the plane, which was originally scheduled to land in Djibouti at 11:40, crashed 55 seconds after takeoff.[1]
The only survivor was General Ailleret's nurse, and the accident remains classified as defense secret and unsolved to this day: sabotage, alcohol, or suicide action.[2][3]
In 1998, flight nurse Michèle Renard testified about this incident.[4]
A commemoration of this accident took place in March 2018.[5]
Notes and references
edit- ^ "9 March 1968: Hell in the Heights of Sainte-Marie". Clicanoo.re. 4 March 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ "1968: DC-6 Crash, La Réunion's Worst Air Disaster". IPReunion.com. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ "53 ans jour pour jour : l'Accident aérien le plus important de l'histoire de la Réunion". Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ "The Sole Survivor Tells Her Story". Clicanoo.re. 14 March 1998. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ "Commemoration of the DC6 Crash". defense.gouv.fr. 26 March 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2021.