Loftleiðir HF LL 001 , a charter flight , crashed on November 15 , 1978 , on approach just short of the runway at the international airport of Colombo , Sri Lanka . The Douglas DC-8 crash killed 8 of the 13 Icelandic crew members , 5 reserve crew members and 170 ( mostly Indonesian ) Muslim pilgrims from South Borneo , out of a total of 262 passengers and crew . The official report by Sri Lankan authorities gave the probable cause of the crash as being failure of the crew to conform to approach procedures ; however U.S. and Icelandic authorities officially claim faulty equipment at the airport and air traffic control error as the cause of the crash . It is by far the worst crash in Icelandic aviation history and the second worst in Sri Lankan aviation history after Martinair Flight 138 that crashed four years before
Martinair Flight 138
Martinair Flight 138
Icelandic Airlines Flight 001