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Gulf Air Flight 771 was a flight from Karachi, Pakistan to the Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. On 23 September 1983, while the Boeing 737-2P6^[1] was on approach to Abu Dhabi International Airport, a bomb exploded in the baggage compartment. The plane crashed in the desert near Mina Jebel Ali between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE. All seven crew members and 105 passengers died. Most of the dead were Pakistani nationals, many returning to jobs in the Persian Gulf after spending the Eid holiday following Ramadan, with their families in Pakistan.^[2] (Note: The Eid ul-Fitr, following Ramadan, was in mid-July 1983, not in September.)

The bomb was apparently planted by the Abu Nidal organization, to convince Saudi Arabia to pay protection money to Nidal so as to avoid attacks on their soil.^[3] Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates paid the money soon after the bombing.

References

External links

• Criminal Occurrence description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Page from planecrashinfo.com
• Abu Nidal behind 1983 Gulf Air bombing: Aide

← 1982 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1983 1984→ Turkish Airlines Flight 158 (January 16) - Air Canada Flight 797 (June 2) - British Airways Sikorsky S-61 crash (July 16) - Air Canada Flight 143 (July 21) - Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (September 1) - Gulf Air Flight 771 (September 23) - Avianca Flight 011 (November 27) - Ozark Air Lines Flight 650 (December 20) Bold blue indicates incidents resulting at least 50 deaths (current article is always in bold black) Red indicates the deadliest incident in 1983