Deadly 1975 Boeing 707 Crash in Morocco Kills 181, Ranks Among Worst Air Disasters

The plane disappeared from the control tower radars of Agadir airport in the early hours of August 3, 1975. It was supposed to land in the Moroccan city at 4:30 a.m., but the right wing tip of the aircraft and one of the engines hit a mountain at an altitude of 2,400 feet due to the thick fog. The pilot lost control of the plane which finally crashed near the small village of Imzizen. The 181 passengers, mostly of Moroccan nationality, did not survive.

This crash is the fourth deadliest air accident in history, after that of a Turkish DC10 in March 1974 north of Paris, killing the 345 passengers on board and the crew members, that of an American military plane on the outskirts of Saigon in April 1974, killing more than 200 people, and that of a Dutch DC8 in Sri Lanka in December 1971, killing 191 people.

The August 1975 crash in Morocco is the second accident involving a Boeing 707 recorded during the 1970s, after the one that occurred at Kano airport in Nigeria in January 1973, killing 176 people. The Boeing 707 entered service for the first time in 1958. With its four engines, it is capable of traveling some 6,000 miles without a stopover and can accommodate up to 190 people.