at 23:27:26: "Lima, Lima 001, slightly to the left of centre line, very slightly to the left of centre line, from touch-down, height , cleared to land off this approach." At 23:27:37, the crew replied, "Roger." When the approach controller subsequently acquired a visual on Flight 001, the aircraft was descending dangerously towards the ground. The controller warned the flight: "Lima, Lima 001, you are undershooting." However, the crew was then speaking with the radar controller on another frequency, and so did not receive the advisory. The approach controller then lost sight of the DC-8, after which he saw an explosion. At 23:28:03, the DC-8 crashed into a rubber and coconut plantation and exploded. The left wing tip struck the coconut trees first breaking it apart, the aircraft then banked 40 degrees to port and impacted the ground virtually disintegrating the forward fuselage, the remaining fuselage cart-wheeled out of control and split up into 6 pieces coming to a stop past the initial point of impact. The crash site was located from runway 22 and off the right side of the runway's extended center line. As the first witness to the crash, the approach controller immediately informed his colleagues of the incident. Within half an hour, 5 fire trucks arrived at the crash site. The rescue operation was hampered by the presence of many coconut palm trees, which prevented access to many large pieces of equipment. One of the rescue team members was the acting head of Sri Lanka's civil aviation authority. While assisting in the rescue, he managed to document the instrument readings and took photographs necessary for the investigation. A total of 183 people were killed in the crash: 8 crew members and 175 passengers. Survivors totaled 79: 32 people (4 crew members and 28 passengers) received non-fatal injuries, while 47 people (1 crew member and 46 passengers) were uninjured. See also List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft Martinair Flight 138 Turkish Airlines Flight 6491 References External links Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka Final report (Archive) (Non-PDF version with appendices) Icelandic Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Aviation accidents and incidents caused by air traffic controller error Aviation accidents and incidents in Sri Lanka Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-8 001 1978 in Sri Lanka November 1978 events in Europe 1978 disasters in Sri Lanka November 1978 events in Asia