The flight is said to have departed Surabaya , Indonesia at approximately 12.03 UTC heading to Jeddah planning a stop at Bandaranaike Airport , Colombo , Sri Lanka . At around 16.30 UTC Colombo control cleared the flight . At 16.38 UTC another air traffic controller is said to have intervened and cleared the flight down to 5000 feet and reported clearing to 8000 feet . Colombo approach then cleared the flight down to 2000 feet at 16.44 and told the flight to expect a runway 04 approach . The crew aboard the flight were then asked to report when the airfield was in sight . The crew then continued their descent until the aircraft crashed into Saptha Kanya Mountain at an altitude of approximately 4,355 feet and at around 40 nm east of Colombo . All 191 passengers and crew were killed . The crash remains the deadliest in Sri Lankan aviation history and the third-deadliest involving a DC-8 , after Arrow Air Flight 1285 and Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 . At the time , it was the second-deadliest aviation accident , after the loss of Turkish Airlines Flight 981 which occurred earlier that same year
Arrow Air Flight 1285
Arrow Air Flight 1285
Martinair Flight 138