Summary Mid-air collision Total injuries (non-fatal) 0 Operator Royal Air Force Total survivors 0 Flight origin RAF Luqa | Total fatalities 26 Type Vickers Valetta C1 Date 15 January 1953 Passenger count 16 | |
Site over the Strait of Sicily | ||
On the 15 January 1953, VX562, a twin-engined Vickers Valetta transport aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF), collided over the Mediterranean Sea with a four-engined RAF Avro Lancaster maritime patrol aircraft. A total of 26 people were killed.
Contents
Accident
The Valetta had departed RAF Luqa with 16 passengers (15 airmen and one Royal Navy (RN) sailor) on a return flight to the United Kingdom. When just before 05:00 the Valleta was between Pantelleria and Sicily it collided in poor visibility and heavy rain with the Avro Lancaster.
The Lancaster from No. 38 Squadron RAF was following HMS Gambia and other RN ships on an anti-submarine exercise. The seven crew on the Lancaster and all on board the Valetta were killed.
Rescue and aftermath
The Gambia and other ships searched the scene for survivors, but only wreckage was found. Later the destroyer HMS Chieftain searched east of Pantelleria when a note case belonging to one of the Lancaster crew was found, without success.
Investigation
The court of inquiry decided that the weather conditions at the time were a factor with localized thunderstorms, heavy rain and hail and no blame could be attached to any individual. Evidence did reveal that though the Malta Flight Information Centre were not in possession of full information on the Lancaster's sortie, it was not a contributory cause.