On October 24, 1965, Air India Flight 171 crashed near Mont Blanc in France . All 48 people on board were killed. The plane, a Boeing 707 named Kanchenjunga , was en route from Bombay (now Mumbai) to London with stops in Beirut and Geneva. What should have been a routine flight developed into one of the worst and still unexplained disasters in aviation history.
The last moments
As the plane approached Geneva, air traffic control instructed the pilot to begin a descent. However, the plane changed course and headed directly toward the Mont Blanc massif. Eyewitnesses reported hearing a strange noise , similar to a thud or a metallic crack, shortly before the plane disappeared from radar.
Investigators find disturbing clues
Initial investigations pointed to a navigational misunderstanding . Pilots were reportedly given outdated weather and route information, and some suspected that altimeter settings may have been incorrect, leading the crew to believe they were flying higher than they actually were.
But two disturbing details further deepen the mystery:
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The noise: Several residents in the area reported hearing a strange noise just before impact : not the typical roar of a jet engine or an explosion, but something unusual and mechanical.
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Coincidence : In an almost unbelievable twist, 16 years earlier, in 1950, another Air India plane had crashed into Mont Blanc at almost the same spot . All 48 passengers were killed, including Homi J. Bhabha , India’s leading nuclear scientist. The uncanny similarities between the two crashes continue to fuel conspiracy theories to this day.
