In March 2009, the pilot and co-pilot of Tuninter Flight 1153, which tragically crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in 2005, received ten-year jail terms for the deaths of 16 passengers.
Captain Shafik Al Gharbi and co-pilot Ali Kebaier Lassoued were accused of neglecting emergency procedures when Tuninter Flight 1153 ran out of fuel due to a mechanical error, instead choosing to pray as the plane descended towards the ocean.
In cockpit recordings presented in court, Mr. Gharbi was heard invoking the aid of ‘Allah and Muhammad, his prophet,’ as reported by The Guardian.
Evidence suggests that the crew made several efforts to rectify the situation, yet ultimately succumbed to panic, resulting in the crash.
The aircraft was en route from Djerba, Tunisia, to Bari, Italy. Of the 49 passengers onboard, 23 were rescued from the water and survived the ordeal.
KLM and Pan Am collision
This tragic event remains the deadliest accident in aviation history, claiming the lives of 583 individuals when two jumbo jets collided. The root cause was attributed to errors in communication.
In March 1977, two Boeing 747s, KLM Flight 1736 and Pan Am Flight 1736, collided with each other at Tenerife Airport.
The collision resulted from misunderstandings between the KLM flight crew and Air Traffic Control, leading to the Pan Am plane still being on the runway when the KLM plane attempted to take off.
The dense fog that day impaired visibility, preventing both aircraft from seeing each other.
All 248 passengers and crew members aboard the KLM plane perished, along with 326 passengers and nine crew members aboard the Pan Am aircraft. However, 54 passengers and seven crew members on the Pan Am plane survived, including the captain.
