Martinair Flight 138 was a chartered flight from Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The aircraft was operated by the Dutch airline Martinair on behalf of Garuda Indonesian Airways. On 4 December 1974, the aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-55CF, crashed into a mountain shortly before landing, killing all 191 people aboard – 182 Indonesian hajj pilgrims bound for Mecca, and nine crew members. The crash remains the deadliest in Sri Lankan aviation history and the third-deadliest involving a DC-8, after Arrow Air Flight 1285R and Nigeria Airways Flight 2120. At the time of the crash, it was the second-deadliest aviation accident in history, after the crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 981 which occurred earlier that same year.
A Martinair Douglas DC-8 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident
A panoramic view of Virgin hills (Saptha Kanya) mountain range.
Tire and memorial located at Norton Bridge
The recovered tire
Martinair is a Dutch cargo and passenger airline headquartered and based at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and a subsidiary of Air France–KLM. The airline was founded in 1958 by Martin Schröder. Since 2011, Martinair has operated entirely as a cargo airline with scheduled services to 20 destinations worldwide and additional charter flights. Prior to that date, passenger flights were also operated.
Martin's Air Charter de Havilland Dove in the early 1960s
Martinair Convair 640 in 1967
A Martinair Boeing 767-300ER passenger aircraft
TransPort Building houses the head offices of Martinair and Transavia