Crash of South African Airways Flight 295

Date: November 28, 1987 • Location: Trou D'Eau Douce, Mauritius

South African Airways Flight 295, sometimes referenced and known as the Helderberg disaster, was a scheduled international passenger flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan, to Jan Smuts International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa, with a stopover in Plaisance Airport, Plaine Magnien, Mauritius. On November 28, 1987, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 747 named Helderberg, experienced a catastrophic in-flight fire in the cargo area, broke up in mid-air, and crashed into the Indian Ocean east of Mauritius, killing all 159 passengers and crew on board. An extensive salvage operation was mounted to try to recover the aircraft's flight recorders, one of which was recovered from a depth of 16,100 feet (4,900 m).