JAT Flight 367: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|1972 airliner bombing}}
{{short description|1972 aircraft bombing in Czechoslovakia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| name            = JAT Flight 367
| name            = JAT Flight 367
| image          = McDonnell Douglas DC-9s awaiting delivery at Long Beach, 1971 (1) (1) (cropped).jpg
| image          = Jugoslovenski Aerotransport (JAT) McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 YU-AHT at Long Beach, 24 January 1971.jpg
| occurrence_type = Bombing
| occurrence_type = Bombing
| alt            =  
| alt            =  
| caption        = YU-AHT, the aircraft involved in the bombing, in 1971
| caption        = YU-AHT, the aircraft involved, pictured in 1971
| date            = 26 January 1972
| date            = 26 January 1972
| type            = Bombing
| type            = Bombing
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| crew            = 5
| crew            = 5
| fatalities      = 27
| fatalities      = 27
| survivors      = 1
| survivors      = [[Vesna_Vulović|1]]
| injuries        = 1
| injuries        = [[Vesna_Vulović|1]]
| aircraft_type  = [[McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32]]
| aircraft_type  = [[McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32]]
| origin          = [[Stockholm-Arlanda Airport]]<br />[[Stockholm]], Sweden
| origin          = [[Stockholm-Arlanda Airport]]<br />[[Stockholm]], Sweden
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| ICAO            = JAT367
| ICAO            = JAT367
| callsign        = JAT 367
| callsign        = JAT 367
| tail_number    = {{Airreg|YU|AHT}}
| tail_number    = YU-AHT
}}
}}
[[File:Flight JAT367.png|thumb|Intended route of Flight 367]]
[[File:Flight JAT367.png|thumb|Intended route of Flight 367]]
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The secondary crew of JAT Flight 367, flying from [[Stockholm]] to [[Belgrade]] with [[layover|stopovers]] in [[Copenhagen]] and [[Zagreb]], arrived in Denmark on the morning of 25 January 1972.<ref name="Avsec">{{cite magazine|magazine=Aviation Security Magazine|title=Vesna Vulovic: How to survive a bombing at 33,000 feet|url=http://www.avsec.com/vesna_vulovic__how_to_survive_a_bombing_at_33000_feet/|date=April 2002|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810012910/http://www.avsec.com/vesna_vulovic__how_to_survive_a_bombing_at_33000_feet/|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Flight 367 departed from [[Stockholm Arlanda Airport]] at 1:30&nbsp;p.m. (13:30 UTC) on 26 January. The aircraft, a [[McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32]], landed at [[Copenhagen Airport]] at 2:30&nbsp;p.m., where it was taken over by Vulović and her colleagues.<ref name="Zpráva">{{cite web|publisher=Zpráva vydaná komisí Federálního ministerstva dopravy ČCSR|title=Souhrnná Zpráva|language=cs|url=http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_1.pdf|date=19 June 1972|access-date=9 August 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035830/http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_1.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> "As it was late, we were in the terminal and saw it park," Vulović said. "I saw all the passengers and crew deplane. One man seemed terribly annoyed. It was not only me that noticed him either. Other crew members saw him, as did the station manager in Copenhagen. I think it was the man who put the bomb in the baggage. I think he had checked in a bag in Stockholm, got off in Copenhagen and never re-boarded the flight."<ref name="Avsec"/>
The secondary crew of JAT Flight 367, flying from [[Stockholm]] to [[Belgrade]] with [[layover|stopovers]] in [[Copenhagen]] and [[Zagreb]], arrived in Denmark on the morning of 25 January 1972.<ref name="Avsec">{{cite magazine|magazine=Aviation Security Magazine|title=Vesna Vulovic: How to survive a bombing at 33,000 feet|url=http://www.avsec.com/vesna_vulovic__how_to_survive_a_bombing_at_33000_feet/|date=April 2002|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810012910/http://www.avsec.com/vesna_vulovic__how_to_survive_a_bombing_at_33000_feet/|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Flight 367 departed from [[Stockholm Arlanda Airport]] at 1:30&nbsp;p.m. (13:30 UTC) on 26 January. The aircraft, a [[McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32]], landed at [[Copenhagen Airport]] at 2:30&nbsp;p.m., where it was taken over by Vulović and her colleagues.<ref name="Zpráva">{{cite web|publisher=Zpráva vydaná komisí Federálního ministerstva dopravy ČCSR|title=Souhrnná Zpráva|language=cs|url=http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_1.pdf|date=19 June 1972|access-date=9 August 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035830/http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_1.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> "As it was late, we were in the terminal and saw it park," Vulović said. "I saw all the passengers and crew deplane. One man seemed terribly annoyed. It was not only me that noticed him either. Other crew members saw him, as did the station manager in Copenhagen. I think it was the man who put the bomb in the baggage. I think he had checked in a bag in Stockholm, got off in Copenhagen and never re-boarded the flight."<ref name="Avsec"/>


Flight 367 departed from Copenhagen Airport at 3:15&nbsp;p.m. At 4:01&nbsp;p.m, an explosion tore through the DC-9's baggage compartment.<ref name="Zpráva" /> The explosion caused the aircraft to break apart over the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovak]] village of [[Srbská&nbsp;Kamenice]].<ref name="Bilefsky" /> Vulović was the only survivor of the 28 passengers and crew.<ref name="Sandomir">{{cite news|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Vesna Vulovic, Flight Attendant Who Survived Jetliner Blast, Dies at 66|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/world/europe/vesna-vulovic-died-flight-attendant-in-plunge.html|date=28 December 2016|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810011445/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/world/europe/vesna-vulovic-died-flight-attendant-in-plunge.html|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|title=Vesna Vulovic, air stewardess who survived a plane crash&nbsp;– obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/01/03/vesna-vulovic-air-stewardess-survived-plane-crash-obituary/|url-access=subscription|date=3 January 2017|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810044802/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/01/03/vesna-vulovic-air-stewardess-survived-plane-crash-obituary/|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Some reports stated Vulović was at the rear of the aircraft when the explosion occurred, but she has stated she was told that she was found in the middle section of the plane.<ref name=avsec /> She was discovered by villager Bruno Honke, who heard her screaming amid the wreckage. Her turquoise uniform was covered in blood and her {{convert|3|in|adj=on}} [[stiletto heel]]s had been torn off by the force of the impact.<ref name="Bilefsky">{{cite news|last=Bilefsky|first=Dan|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Serbia's Most Famous Survivor Fears That Recent History Will Repeat Itself|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/world/europe/26vulovic.html|date=26 April 2008|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810014539/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/world/europe/26vulovic.html|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>  Honke had been a medic during [[World War II]] and was able to keep Vulović alive until rescuers arrived.<ref name="Avsec" /><ref name="White">{{cite book|last=White|first=Colin|year=2010|title=Projectile Dynamics in Sport: Principles and Applications|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1-13402-762-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K218AgAAQBAJ|page=305}}</ref> Vulović was in a coma for 27 days and was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, but survived.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1972/1972-5.htm |title=ACCIDENT DETAILS |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |publisher=planecrashinfo.com |access-date=15 August 2020}}</ref> She continued working for JAT, holding a desk job.<ref name=guardian/>
Flight 367 departed from Copenhagen Airport at 3:15&nbsp;p.m. At 4:01&nbsp;p.m, an explosion tore through the DC-9's baggage compartment.<ref name="Zpráva" /> The explosion caused the aircraft to break apart over the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovak]] village of [[Srbská&nbsp;Kamenice]].<ref name="Bilefsky" /> Vulović was the only survivor of the 28 passengers and crew.<ref name="Sandomir">{{cite news|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Vesna Vulovic, Flight Attendant Who Survived Jetliner Blast, Dies at 66|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/world/europe/vesna-vulovic-died-flight-attendant-in-plunge.html|date=28 December 2016|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810011445/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/world/europe/vesna-vulovic-died-flight-attendant-in-plunge.html|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|title=Vesna Vulovic, air stewardess who survived a plane crash&nbsp;– obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/01/03/vesna-vulovic-air-stewardess-survived-plane-crash-obituary/|url-access=subscription|date=3 January 2017|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810044802/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/01/03/vesna-vulovic-air-stewardess-survived-plane-crash-obituary/|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Some reports stated Vulović was at the rear of the aircraft when the explosion occurred, but she has stated she was told that she was found in the middle section of the plane.<ref name=avsec /> She was discovered by villager Bruno Honke, who heard her screaming amid the wreckage. Her turquoise uniform was covered in blood and her {{convert|3|in|adj=on|order=flip}} [[stiletto heel]]s had been torn off by the force of the impact.<ref name="Bilefsky">{{cite news|last=Bilefsky|first=Dan|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Serbia's Most Famous Survivor Fears That Recent History Will Repeat Itself|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/world/europe/26vulovic.html|date=26 April 2008|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810014539/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/world/europe/26vulovic.html|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>  Honke had been a medic during [[World War II]] and was able to keep Vulović alive until rescuers arrived.<ref name="Avsec" /><ref name="White">{{cite book|last=White|first=Colin|year=2010|title=Projectile Dynamics in Sport: Principles and Applications|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1-13402-762-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K218AgAAQBAJ|page=305}}</ref> Vulović was in a coma for 27 days and was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, but survived.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1972/1972-5.htm |title=ACCIDENT DETAILS |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |publisher=planecrashinfo.com |access-date=15 August 2020}}</ref> She continued working for JAT, holding a desk job.<ref name=guardian/>


Between 1962 and 1982, the [[Croatian nationalism|Croatian nationalist]] group [[Ustaše]] carried out 128 terror attacks against [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]n civilian and military targets.<ref name="Pluchinsky">{{cite book|last=Pluchinsky|first=Dennis|editor-last=Tan|editor-first=Andrew T.H.|year=2010|title=Politics of Terrorism: A Survey|chapter=Ethnic Terrorism: Themes and Variations|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1-13683-336-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXerAgAAQBAJ|page=49}}</ref> The Yugoslav authorities suspected that émigré Croatian terrorists were to blame for bringing down Flight 367.<ref name="West2012">{{cite book|author=Richard West|title=Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J34leeCdXFQC&pg=PT179|date=15 November 2012|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-28110-7|pages=179–}}</ref> The day of the crash, a bomb exploded aboard a train travelling from [[Vienna]] to Zagreb, injuring six.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rebić|first=Đuro|year=1987|title=Špijuni, diverzanti, teroristi: Ostaci kontrarevolucije u Jugoslaviji|publisher=Centar za informacije i publicitet|language=sh|location=Zagreb|isbn=978-8-67125-009-2|page=354}}</ref> A man, describing himself as a Croatian nationalist, called the Swedish newspaper ''[[Expressen#Kvällsposten|Kvällsposten]]'' the following day and claimed responsibility for the bombing of Flight 367.<ref name="SD">{{cite news|newspaper=Slobodna Dalmacija|title=Njemački mediji o slučaju JAT 1972: Napad hrvatske emigracije je plod mašte tajnih službi|language=hr|url=https://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/novosti/svijet/clanak/id/35796/njemacki-mediji-o-slucaju-jat-1972-napad-hrvatske-emigracije-je-plod-maste-tajnih-sluzbi|date=9 January 2009|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810012539/http://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/novosti/svijet/clanak/id/35796/njemacki-mediji-o-slucaju-jat-1972-napad-hrvatske-emigracije-je-plod-maste-tajnih-sluzbi|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> No arrests have yet been made.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|work=BBC News|title=Vesna Vulovic, stewardess who survived 33,000ft fall, dies|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38427411|date=24 December 2016|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724084249/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38427411|archive-date=24 July 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The Czechoslovak [[Civil Aviation Authority (Czech Republic)|Civil Aviation Authority]] later attributed the explosion to a [[briefcase]] bomb.<ref>{{cite web|title=Official Abstract of the Final Report (English)|publisher=Czechoslovak Civil Aviation Authority|url=http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_2.pdf|access-date=23 August 2017|page=6|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123102117/http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_2.pdf|archive-date=23 November 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Between 1962 and 1982, the [[Croatian nationalism|Croatian nationalist]] group carried out 128 terror attacks against [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]n civilian and military targets.<ref name="Pluchinsky">{{cite book|last=Pluchinsky|first=Dennis|editor-last=Tan|editor-first=Andrew T.H.|year=2010|title=Politics of Terrorism: A Survey|chapter=Ethnic Terrorism: Themes and Variations|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1-13683-336-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXerAgAAQBAJ|page=49}}</ref> The Yugoslav authorities suspected that émigré Croatian terrorists were to blame for bringing down Flight 367.<ref name="West2012">{{cite book|author=Richard West|title=Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J34leeCdXFQC&pg=PT179|date=15 November 2012|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-28110-7|pages=179–}}</ref> The day of the crash, a bomb exploded aboard a train travelling from [[Vienna]] to Zagreb, injuring six.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rebić|first=Đuro|year=1987|title=Špijuni, diverzanti, teroristi: Ostaci kontrarevolucije u Jugoslaviji|publisher=Centar za informacije i publicitet|language=sh|location=Zagreb|isbn=978-8-67125-009-2|page=354}}</ref> A man, describing himself as a Croatian nationalist, called the Swedish newspaper ''[[Expressen#Kvällsposten|Kvällsposten]]'' the following day and claimed responsibility for the bombing of Flight 367.<ref name="SD">{{cite news|newspaper=Slobodna Dalmacija|title=Njemački mediji o slučaju JAT 1972: Napad hrvatske emigracije je plod mašte tajnih službi|language=hr|url=https://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/novosti/svijet/clanak/id/35796/njemacki-mediji-o-slucaju-jat-1972-napad-hrvatske-emigracije-je-plod-maste-tajnih-sluzbi|date=9 January 2009|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810012539/http://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/novosti/svijet/clanak/id/35796/njemacki-mediji-o-slucaju-jat-1972-napad-hrvatske-emigracije-je-plod-maste-tajnih-sluzbi|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> No arrests have yet been made.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|work=BBC News|title=Vesna Vulovic, stewardess who survived 33,000ft fall, dies|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38427411|date=24 December 2016|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724084249/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38427411|archive-date=24 July 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The Czechoslovak [[Civil Aviation Authority (Czech Republic)|Civil Aviation Authority]] later attributed the explosion to a [[briefcase]] bomb.<ref>{{cite web|title=Official Abstract of the Final Report (English)|publisher=Czechoslovak Civil Aviation Authority|url=http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_2.pdf|access-date=23 August 2017|page=6|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123102117/http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_2.pdf|archive-date=23 November 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref>


[[File:Kollage JAT367 TV4 Kalla fakta.jpg|thumb|The TV4 Sweden documentary ''The Bomb on Flight JAT 367'']]
On 10 October 2024, [[TV4 (Swedish TV channel)|TV4]]'s investigative program ''Kalla fakta'' aired a documentary that found a group of Croat nationalists based in [[Sweden]] were implicated in the bombing.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tv4.se/artikel/5lmcfS3xDyQ9diQXCTdCZg/flygplansbomben-doedade-27-grupp-i-sverige-pekas-ut|title=Flygplansbomben dödade 27 – grupp i Sverige pekas ut|website=[[TV4 (Swedish TV channel)|TV4]]|date=10 October 2024|access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref> Reporter [[:sv:Tonchi_Percan|Tonchi Percan]] discovered names of suspects and found previously classified documents from the [[Directorate for State Security (Yugoslavia)|Yugoslav security service]]. The documents contain detailed information about how the crime was planned, financed, and executed. For each one of the seven individuals, the documents contains intelligence from between 38 and 59 different secret agents. The seven men were exiled Croats associated with the [[Bugojno group]] who had resided in Sweden and [[Germany]]. ''Kalla fakta'' interviewed the three Swedish men who were still alive in 2024; two of them denied involvement in the bombing, while the third claimed not to remember anything.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tv4play.se/program/e854313587616f907b08/kalla-fakta-attentatet-mot-flight-jat367|title=Kalla fakta - Attentatet mot flight JAT367|website=[[TV4 (Swedish TV channel)|TV4]]|access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref>
On 10 October 2024, [[TV4 (Swedish TV channel)|TV4]]'s investigative program ''Kalla fakta'' aired a documentary that found a group of Croat nationalists based in Sweden and associated with Ustaše were implicated in the bombing.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tv4.se/artikel/5lmcfS3xDyQ9diQXCTdCZg/flygplansbomben-doedade-27-grupp-i-sverige-pekas-ut|title=Flygplansbomben dödade 27 – grupp i Sverige pekas ut|website=[[TV4 (Swedish TV channel)|TV4]]|date=10 October 2024|access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref> Reporter [[:sv:Tonchi_Percan|Tonchi Percan]] discovered names of suspects and found previously classified documents from the [[Directorate for State Security (Yugoslavia)|Yugoslav security service]]. The documents contains detailed information about how the crime was planned, financed, and executed. For each one of the seven individuals, the documents contains intelligence from between 38 and 59 different secret agents. The seven men were exiled Croats associated with the [[Bugojno group]] who resided in Sweden and Germany. ''Kalla fakta'' interviewed the three Swedish men who were still alive in 2024; two of them denied involvement in the bombing, while the third claimed not to remember anything.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tv4play.se/program/e854313587616f907b08/kalla-fakta-attentatet-mot-flight-jat367|title=Kalla fakta - Attentatet mot flight JAT367|website=[[TV4 (Swedish TV channel)|TV4]]|access-date=30 January 2025}}</ref>


==Shootdown conspiracy theory==
==Shootdown conspiracy theory==
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The officially stated cause of the Flight 367 crash was challenged occasionally over the years by [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]]. For example, in 1997 the Czech periodical ''Letectví a kosmonautika'' reported that the plane was shot down by mistake by Czechoslovak air defenses.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Šírová|first1=Tereza|title=Teroristický útok nad ČSSR přežila jen letuška, padala z 10 km|url=http://technet.idnes.cz/serial-teroristicky-utok-nad-cssr-prezila-jen-letuska-padala-z-10-km-1fc-/tec_technika.aspx?c=A120125_173502_tec_technika_pka|website=Technet.cz|date=26 January 2012|access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref>
The officially stated cause of the Flight 367 crash was challenged occasionally over the years by [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]]. For example, in 1997 the Czech periodical ''Letectví a kosmonautika'' reported that the plane was shot down by mistake by Czechoslovak air defenses.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Šírová|first1=Tereza|title=Teroristický útok nad ČSSR přežila jen letuška, padala z 10 km|url=http://technet.idnes.cz/serial-teroristicky-utok-nad-cssr-prezila-jen-letuska-padala-z-10-km-1fc-/tec_technika.aspx?c=A120125_173502_tec_technika_pka|website=Technet.cz|date=26 January 2012|access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref>


The discussion about different aspects of the crash was reopened on 8 January 2009, when German news magazine ''[[Tagesschau (Germany)|Tagesschau]]'' featured a report by investigative journalists Peter Hornung and Pavel Theiner.<ref name="taz">{{cite news |url=http://www.taz.de/!28484/ |title=Geheimdienst erfand Bombenattentat |last1=BIENE |first1=JANUSZ |newspaper=Die Tageszeitung: Taz |date=9 January 2009 |publisher=[[die Tageszeitung]] |access-date=11 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="Tagesschau.de">{{Cite web|url=https://www.tagesschau.de/thema-101.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202224726/http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/hornung100.html|url-status=dead|title=Aktuelle Nachrichten – Inland Ausland Wirtschaft Kultur Sport – ARD Tagesschau|archive-date=2 February 2010|website=tagesschau.de}}</ref> Allegedly based on newly obtained documents mainly from the Czech Civil Aviation Authority, they concluded that it was "extremely likely" that the plane had been mistakenly shot down only a few hundred meters above the ground by a [[MiG]] fighter of the [[Czechoslovak Air Force]], having been mistaken for an enemy aircraft while attempting a [[forced landing]].<ref name=guardian>Kate Connolly: [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/13/flight-attendant-record-fall-hoax Woman who fell to earth: was air crash survivor's record just propaganda?] [[The Guardian]], 13 January 2009</ref><ref>Ben Leach: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/czechrepublic/4237545/Serbian-flight-attendants-fall-from-10000-metres-was-hoax.html Serbian flight attendant's fall from 10,000 metres was 'hoax'] [[The Daily Telegraph]], 14 January 2009</ref> All the evidence suggesting that the plane was destroyed at high altitude by explosives placed in a suitcase would be therefore have been forged by [[StB|Czechoslovak secret police]].
The discussion about different aspects of the crash was reopened on 8 January 2009, when German news magazine ''[[Tagesschau (Germany)|Tagesschau]]'' featured a report by investigative journalists Peter Hornung and Pavel Theiner.<ref name="taz">{{cite news |url=http://www.taz.de/!28484/ |title=Geheimdienst erfand Bombenattentat |last1=BIENE |first1=JANUSZ |newspaper=Die Tageszeitung: Taz |date=9 January 2009 |publisher=[[die Tageszeitung]] |access-date=11 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="Tagesschau.de">{{Cite web|url=https://www.tagesschau.de/thema-101.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100202224726/http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/hornung100.html|url-status=dead|title=Aktuelle Nachrichten – Inland Ausland Wirtschaft Kultur Sport – ARD Tagesschau|archive-date=2 February 2010|website=tagesschau.de}}</ref> Allegedly based on newly obtained documents mainly from the Czech Civil Aviation Authority, they concluded that it was "extremely likely" that the plane had been mistakenly shot down only a few hundred meters above the ground by a [[MiG]] fighter of the [[Czechoslovak Air Force]], having been mistaken for an enemy aircraft while attempting a [[forced landing]].<ref name=guardian>Kate Connolly: [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/13/flight-attendant-record-fall-hoax Woman who fell to earth: was air crash survivor's record just propaganda?] [[The Guardian]], 13 January 2009</ref><ref>Ben Leach: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/czechrepublic/4237545/Serbian-flight-attendants-fall-from-10000-metres-was-hoax.html Serbian flight attendant's fall from 10,000 metres was 'hoax'] [[The Daily Telegraph]], 14 January 2009</ref>


As evidence that the DC-9 had broken up at a lower altitude, the journalists cited eyewitnesses from Srbská Kamenice, who had seen the plane burning but still intact below the low-hanging clouds, and confirmation of a Serbian aviation expert (who had been present at the crash site) that the debris area had been much too small for a crash from high altitude; it also referred to sightings of a second plane.<ref name=guardian/><ref name="Tagesschau.de"/> According to Hornung, Flight 367 got into difficulties, "went into a steep descent and found itself over a sensitive military area", close to a nuclear weapons facility.<ref name=guardian/> However, Hornung himself stated that for his theory "there are only indications, no evidence".<ref name="taz"/><ref name="Tagesschau.de"/>
As evidence that the DC-9 had broken up at a lower altitude, the journalists cited eyewitnesses from Srbská Kamenice, who had seen the plane burning but still intact below the low-hanging clouds, and confirmation of a Serbian aviation expert (who had been present at the crash site) that the debris area had been much too small for a crash from high altitude; it also referred to sightings of a second plane.<ref name=guardian/><ref name="Tagesschau.de"/> According to Hornung, Flight 367 got into difficulties, "went into a steep descent and found itself over a sensitive military area", close to a nuclear weapons facility.<ref name=guardian/> However, Hornung himself stated that for his theory "there are only indications, no evidence".<ref name="taz"/><ref name="Tagesschau.de"/>
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* [[List of terrorist incidents in 1972]]
* [[List of terrorist incidents in 1972]]
* [[List of unsolved deaths]]
* [[List of unsolved deaths]]
* [[List of aviation accidents and incidents with a sole survivor]]
* [[Timeline of airliner bombing attacks]]
* [[Timeline of airliner bombing attacks]]
{{-}}
{{-}}
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== External links ==
== External links ==
{{Commons category|Yugoslav Airlines flight 367}}
{{Commons category|JAT Flight 367}}
* [http://www.nacr.cz/C-fondy/znasichfondu_II.aspx Accident to Yugoslav aircraft YU-AHT on January 26, 1972 in Czech Kamenica. The blast from explosives in carry-on luggage in the front luggage compartment caused the plane crash of DC-9-30 Yugoslav Airlines flight JU 367 Stockholm – Copenhagen – Zagreb – Belgrade] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20140812204110/http://www.nacr.cz/C-fondy/znasichfondu_II.aspx Archive], [http://www.nacr.cz/Z-Files/znasichfondu_II.pdf PDF format], [https://web.archive.org/web/20121031023138/http://nacr.cz/Z-Files/znasichfondu_II.pdf Archive]) {{in lang|cs}}
* [http://www.nacr.cz/C-fondy/znasichfondu_II.aspx Accident to Yugoslav aircraft YU-AHT on January 26, 1972 in Czech Kamenica. The blast from explosives in carry-on luggage in the front luggage compartment caused the plane crash of DC-9-30 Yugoslav Airlines flight JU 367 Stockholm – Copenhagen – Zagreb – Belgrade] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20140812204110/http://www.nacr.cz/C-fondy/znasichfondu_II.aspx Archive], [http://www.nacr.cz/Z-Files/znasichfondu_II.pdf PDF format], [https://web.archive.org/web/20121031023138/http://nacr.cz/Z-Files/znasichfondu_II.pdf Archive]) {{in lang|cs}}
** [http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_1.pdf Summary Report of the State Aviation Investigation Inspectorate of the causes of the accident] (NA, ÚCL, karton 84, sg. 2/1972)] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035830/http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_1.pdf Archive]) {{in lang|cs}}
** [http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_1.pdf Summary Report of the State Aviation Investigation Inspectorate of the causes of the accident] (NA, ÚCL, karton 84, sg. 2/1972)] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035830/http://www.nacr.cz/Z-files/znasichfondu_II_1.pdf Archive]) {{in lang|cs}}
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[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-9]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-9]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1972]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1972]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1972]]
[[Category:1972 mass murders]]
[[Category:January 1972 in Europe]]
[[Category:January 1972 in Europe]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Germany in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Germany in the 1970s]]
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[[Category:Improvised explosive device bombings in Europe]]
[[Category:Improvised explosive device bombings in Europe]]
[[Category:Explosions in the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Explosions in the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:20th-century mass murder in Europe]]
[[Category:20th-century mass murders in Europe]]
[[Category:Mass murder in the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Mass murders in the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Děčín District]]
[[Category:Děčín District]]
[[Category:1972 in East Germany]]
[[Category:1972 in East Germany]]

Latest revision as of 05:22, 24 December 2025

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

File:Flight JAT367.png
Intended route of Flight 367

JAT Flight 367 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 aircraft (registration YU-AHT) which exploded shortly after overflying NDB Hermsdorf (located in or around Hinterhermsdorf, in the present-day municipality of Sebnitz), East Germany, while en route from Stockholm, Sweden, to Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia, on 26 January 1972. The aircraft, piloted by Captain Ludvik Razdrih and First Officer Ratko Mihić, broke into three pieces and spun out of control, crashing near the village of Srbská Kamenice in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). Of the 28 on board, 27 were killed upon ground impact and one Serbian crew member, Vesna Vulović (1950–2016), survived.[1] She holds the Guinness world record for surviving the highest fall without a parachute at Script error: No such module "convert"..

Cause

File:Map of JAT367.png
Last 20 minutes of the flight
File:Debris of JAT367.jpg
Debris distribution of Flight 367

The secondary crew of JAT Flight 367, flying from Stockholm to Belgrade with stopovers in Copenhagen and Zagreb, arrived in Denmark on the morning of 25 January 1972.[2] Flight 367 departed from Stockholm Arlanda Airport at 1:30 p.m. (13:30 UTC) on 26 January. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, landed at Copenhagen Airport at 2:30 p.m., where it was taken over by Vulović and her colleagues.[3] "As it was late, we were in the terminal and saw it park," Vulović said. "I saw all the passengers and crew deplane. One man seemed terribly annoyed. It was not only me that noticed him either. Other crew members saw him, as did the station manager in Copenhagen. I think it was the man who put the bomb in the baggage. I think he had checked in a bag in Stockholm, got off in Copenhagen and never re-boarded the flight."[2]

Flight 367 departed from Copenhagen Airport at 3:15 p.m. At 4:01 p.m, an explosion tore through the DC-9's baggage compartment.[3] The explosion caused the aircraft to break apart over the Czechoslovak village of Srbská Kamenice.[4] Vulović was the only survivor of the 28 passengers and crew.[5][6] Some reports stated Vulović was at the rear of the aircraft when the explosion occurred, but she has stated she was told that she was found in the middle section of the plane.[7] She was discovered by villager Bruno Honke, who heard her screaming amid the wreckage. Her turquoise uniform was covered in blood and her Script error: No such module "convert". stiletto heels had been torn off by the force of the impact.[4] Honke had been a medic during World War II and was able to keep Vulović alive until rescuers arrived.[2][8] Vulović was in a coma for 27 days and was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, but survived.[9] She continued working for JAT, holding a desk job.[10]

Between 1962 and 1982, the Croatian nationalist group carried out 128 terror attacks against Yugoslavian civilian and military targets.[11] The Yugoslav authorities suspected that émigré Croatian terrorists were to blame for bringing down Flight 367.[12] The day of the crash, a bomb exploded aboard a train travelling from Vienna to Zagreb, injuring six.[13] A man, describing himself as a Croatian nationalist, called the Swedish newspaper Kvällsposten the following day and claimed responsibility for the bombing of Flight 367.[14] No arrests have yet been made.[15] The Czechoslovak Civil Aviation Authority later attributed the explosion to a briefcase bomb.[16]

On 10 October 2024, TV4's investigative program Kalla fakta aired a documentary that found a group of Croat nationalists based in Sweden were implicated in the bombing.[17] Reporter Tonchi Percan discovered names of suspects and found previously classified documents from the Yugoslav security service. The documents contain detailed information about how the crime was planned, financed, and executed. For each one of the seven individuals, the documents contains intelligence from between 38 and 59 different secret agents. The seven men were exiled Croats associated with the Bugojno group who had resided in Sweden and Germany. Kalla fakta interviewed the three Swedish men who were still alive in 2024; two of them denied involvement in the bombing, while the third claimed not to remember anything.[18]

Shootdown conspiracy theory

Theory

The officially stated cause of the Flight 367 crash was challenged occasionally over the years by conspiracy theories. For example, in 1997 the Czech periodical Letectví a kosmonautika reported that the plane was shot down by mistake by Czechoslovak air defenses.[19]

The discussion about different aspects of the crash was reopened on 8 January 2009, when German news magazine Tagesschau featured a report by investigative journalists Peter Hornung and Pavel Theiner.[20][21] Allegedly based on newly obtained documents mainly from the Czech Civil Aviation Authority, they concluded that it was "extremely likely" that the plane had been mistakenly shot down only a few hundred meters above the ground by a MiG fighter of the Czechoslovak Air Force, having been mistaken for an enemy aircraft while attempting a forced landing.[10][22]

As evidence that the DC-9 had broken up at a lower altitude, the journalists cited eyewitnesses from Srbská Kamenice, who had seen the plane burning but still intact below the low-hanging clouds, and confirmation of a Serbian aviation expert (who had been present at the crash site) that the debris area had been much too small for a crash from high altitude; it also referred to sightings of a second plane.[10][21] According to Hornung, Flight 367 got into difficulties, "went into a steep descent and found itself over a sensitive military area", close to a nuclear weapons facility.[10] However, Hornung himself stated that for his theory "there are only indications, no evidence".[20][21]

Skepticism

File:Srbská Kamenice, pomník.jpg
Monument in Srbská Kamenice memoralizing the crash (Czech Republic)

Vulović (who had no memory of the crash or the flight after boarding[10]) referred to the claims that the plane attempted a forced landing or descended to such a low altitude as "nebulous nonsense".[23] A representative of Guinness World Records, according to the German paper Die Tageszeitung, stated that "it seems that at the time Guinness was duped by this swindle just like the rest of the media."[10]

The Civilian Aviation Authority dismissed the conspiracy theory as media speculation, that appears from time to time. Its spokeswoman added that Authority experts would not comment on them[24] and that findings of the official investigation are being questioned mostly because of the media attractiveness of the story.[25]

The Czech magazine Technet quoted a Czech army expert: "In case of violation of the air space, the incident would not be solved by anti-air missiles, but by fighter planes. Also it would not be possible to conceal such incident, as there would be approximately 150–200 people knowing about the incident. They would not have any reason to not tell about the incident today." A potential missile launch would be audible and especially visible for thousands of people long afterwards. He further claims that for the Yugoslav plane, it was technically impossible to dive in a "state of emergency" from the proven flight level to the low altitude and place where it was allegedly shot down. He also states that the debris area wasn't "too small" but that the main parts were more than 1.5 km apart.[26][27] Additionally, the Czechoslovak Air Defense soldier who operated the radar on the day of the crash stated in a 2009 interview that any Czechoslovak jet fighters would be noticed by West German air defense.[25]

The main evidence against such a theory is the flight data obtained from the black box, which provided the exact data about the time, speed, direction, acceleration and altitude of the plane at the moment of the explosion. Both black boxes were opened and analysed by their respective service companies in Amsterdam in the presence of experts from Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the Netherlands.[28]

Vulović's fall was the subject of a MythBusters episode, which concluded it was possible to survive the fall depending on how the wreckage someone was sitting in landed.[29]

Vesna Vulović

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Vesna Vulović holds the official record in the Guinness Book of Records for the highest fall survived without a parachute.[7] Vesna Vulović received the Guinness prize from Paul McCartney.[7]

A major celebrity in Yugoslavia, Vesna Vulović was a frequent guest on national television shows such as Maksovizija by Milovan Ilić Minimaks up until the 1990s. She attended annual commemorations at the crash site, until they were stopped in 2002. The daughter of the firefighter that saved her bears her name, as well as a local hotel called Pension Vesna in the Czech Republic, near the site of the crash.[30]

See also

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

  1. ↑ Official abstract of final report (english) (Archive)
  2. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ a b c d e f Kate Connolly: Woman who fell to earth: was air crash survivor's record just propaganda? The Guardian, 13 January 2009
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Ben Leach: Serbian flight attendant's fall from 10,000 metres was 'hoax' The Daily Telegraph, 14 January 2009
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

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