Flight ME438 was an international passenger flight from Beirut , Lebanon to Muscat , Oman , with a stopover in Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates . With 15 crew members and 66 passengers ( other sources stated that there were 67 passengers ) on board , flight 438 departed from Beirut . In the predawn twilight , the airliner was en route from Beirut to Abu Dhabi when at 05:30 , 1 hour and 40 minutes after departure , a bomb exploded in the front section of the cargo hold . The aircraft broke up at an altitude of and crashed 37 km ( 23 mi ) northwest of Al Qaysumah , Saudi Arabia . The crash was the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Saudi Arabia at the time , and is now the sixth-deadliest . It is also the second-deadliest aviation disaster involving the Boeing 720 , behind Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705
Middle East Airlines Flight 438