New Delhi: It was a calm 12 November evening in 1996 when the skies over Charkhi Dadri in Haryana turned into a scene from a nightmare. At 6:30 PM, two passenger jets – one from Kazakhstan and the other from Saudi Arabia – smashed into each other mid-air, killing all 349 people on board. It remains the deadliest aviation disaster in India’s history.
Now, 29 years later, the Air India Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 has reopened wounds that never truly healed. For those who witnessed the horror unfold back then, the images are etched in memory – bodies scattered across fields, fireballs lighting up the sky and silence broken only by the sound of sirens and crying families.
Senior journalist Dayanand Pradhan was the first reporter on the ground in Charkhi Dadri that night. “There were bodies everywhere. Some missing limbs, others charred beyond recognition. You could not take a step without stumbling upon wreckage or death,” he recalled while talking to Dainik Bhaskar.
He still keeps an album of photos from that day – a reminder of a tragedy that time could never erase.
Locals remember seeing two fireballs falling from the sky like comets. Within seconds, chaos erupted. People ran barefoot across harvested fields, trying to find survivors. “We heard a thunderclap, saw a flash and then the sky rained metal and fire. We rushed in, calling others to help. But the heat was so intense, we couldn’t get near,” one Rampal, who lived near the crash site, told the Hindi daily.
Farmer Suresh was sowing wheat that day in his field. The aircraft debris ruined his land and his peace. “Even after the bodies were cleared and the flames died down, no one went near those fields. It felt cursed,” he said.
Debris and human remains were found scattered across a 10-kilometre radius.
In the aftermath, volunteers from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) provided food and shelter to grieving families. Locals helped with cremations, often performing last rites for strangers.
Master Suresh Garg recalls how people from nearby towns arrived in droves to offer aid. “The village turned into a makeshift funeral ground. No one waited for orders. We just did what had to be done,” he said.
Then-Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and Haryana Cief Minister Bansi Lal rushed to Charkhi Dadri to take a stock of the situation. They promised a hospital and a memorial. A Saudi charity later set up a temporary hospital, but it eventually shut down.
Six-Point Breakdown
1. Collision over Tikana village: Saudi Flight 763, a Boeing 747, was flying to Dhahran from Delhi. Kazakh Flight 1907 was a chartered Ilyushin Il-76 arriving in Delhi from Chimkent. The two collided mid-air, about 65 km from Delhi.
2. A full flight: The Saudi plane carried 312 passengers and crew, while the Kazakh flight had 37 people on board, mostly tourists.
3. Missed instructions: The Kazakh pilot first contacted Delhi ATC when the plane was 23,000 feet high. He was instructed to descend to 15,000 feet. Meanwhile, the Saudi flight was cleared to climb to 14,000 feet.
4. One corridor, two planes: At the time, Delhi had only one air corridor for commercial aircraft. The military used the others. Both jets were on the same path, only separated by 1,000 feet vertically.
5. Ignored orders: A court-led inquiry found that the Kazakh pilot descended below the instructed altitude, crashing into the Saudi jet from below. Investigators confirmed that the ATC had given clear and correct directions.
6. Inquiry by Justice Lahoti: A special panel led by Justice R.C. Lahoti concluded that the accident occurred due to pilot’s error, not mechanical fault. The Kazakh aircraft, it found, breached altitude protocol – causing the mid-air collision.
The black box, designed to survive catastrophic crashes, confirmed the ATC’s version. It ruled out weather or system failure. It pointed to miscommunication and the Kazakh pilot’s deviation from assigned altitude.
