On October 24, 1965, Air India Flight 171 crashed near Mont Blanc in France , killing all 48 people on board. 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 turned into one of the most sinister 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 aircraft veered off course and headed directly toward the Mont Blanc massif. Eyewitnesses reported hearing a strange noise , reminiscent of a thud or metallic crack, shortly before the plane disappeared from radar.
Investigators uncover disturbing clues
Initial investigations indicated 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 Pilots were reportedly given outdated weather and route information, and some suspected that altimeter settings may have been incorrect, leading the crew to believe they were flying higher than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 the mystery deepened with two frightening details:
-
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 unfamiliar and mechanical.
-
The coincidence : In an almost unbelievable twist, 16 years earlier, in 1950, another Air India flight 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 still give rise to conspiracy theories today.
Conspiracy theories and unanswered questions
Some suspect Flight 171 was sabotaged , possibly to hinder Indian scientific progress or political affairs. The sudden loss of radio contact, the bizarre noise, and the eerie location have fueled decades of speculation. Others suggest a possible mechanical failure or instrument malfunction during the flight , although no definitive cause has ever been established.
The legacy
To this day, the crash of Air India Flight 171 remains one of aviation’s greatest unsolved tragedies. The combination of human error, outdated technology, and mysterious final moments continues to haunt both the victims’ families and aviation historians.
Was it a tragic accident—or was there more to it? The strange noise before the impact may never be fully explained, but its echo still reverberates across the snow-capped peaks of Mont Blanc.
