On 12 November 1996, Saudia Flight 763, a Boeing 747 en route from Delhi, India, to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907, an Ilyushin Il-76 en route from Chimkent, Kazakhstan, to Delhi, collided over the village of Charkhi Dadri, around west of Delhi. The crash killed all 349 people on board both planes, making it the world's deadliest mid-air collision and the deadliest aviation accident to occur in India. The crash was caused by failure of the Kazakhstani crew to maintain the correct altitude, because of confused dialogue with the tower communicated via the radio operator. Aircraft involved Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 was a Boeing 747-168B, registration HZ-AIH, departing from Delhi as part of a scheduled international Delhi–Dhahran–Jeddah passenger service with 312 people on board. The crew on this flight consisted of Captain Khalid Al-Shubaily (age 45), First Officer Nazir Khan, and Flight Engineer Ahmed Edrees. Al-Shubaily was a veteran pilot with 9,837 flying hours. There is some dispute as to the nationalities of the passengers of Flight 763. According to an article published on 14 November 1996, 215 Indians, many of whom worked in Saudi Arabia as blue-collar workers, boarded the flight, along with 40 Nepalis and three Americans. However, according to a different article, the passenger manifest included 17 people of other nationalities, including nine Nepalis, three Pakistanis, two Americans, one Bangladeshi, one British, and one Saudi Arabian. Twelve of the crew members, including five anti-terrorism officials, were Saudi Arabian citizens. Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907, an Ilyushin Il-76TD with registration UN-76435 was on a charter service from Chimkent Airport to Delhi. The crew consisted of Captain Alexander Cherepanov (age 44), First Officer Ermek Dzhangirov, Flight Engineer Alexander Chuprov, Navigator Zhahanbek Aripbaev, and Radio Operator Egor Repp. Cherepanov was highly experienced, with 9,229 flight hours. A company from Kyrgyzstan chartered the flight, and the passenger manifest mostly included ethnic Russian Kyrgyz citizens planning to go shopping in India. Thirteen Kyrgyz traders boarded the flight. Collision SVA Flight 763 departed Delhi at 18:32 local time (13:02 UTC). KZA Flight 1907 was descending simultaneously, to land at Delhi. Both flights were controlled by approach controller V.K. Dutta. The Kazakhstan Airlines plane was cleared to descend to when it was from the beacon of the destination airport, while the SVA plane, travelling on the same airway but in the opposite