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| Date: | Thursday 22 July 1971 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Vickers VC10-1101 |
| Owner/operator: | British Overseas Airways Corporation - BOAC |
| Registration: | G-ARVM |
| MSN: | 815 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1964 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: / Occupants: 107 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Location: | Benghazi -
 Libya
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Rome |
| Khartoum | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Two leaders of a coup in Sudan who had been out of the country were heading back to Khartoum on BOAC flight BA045 when the aircraft was asked by Libyan air traffic control at Benghazi to land at that airport "for the safety of the souls on board". According to BOAC the captain asked for a clearance back to Rome from the Maltese controller who was nominally directing the flight at that point. Having turned the aircraft around and just minutes away from leaving the Libyan FIR the Maltese controller revoked the clearance and repeated the earlier request from the Libyan authorities, ordering them to land at Benghazi.
The aircraft had to circle the airport for a while to burn off fuel and the Captain used this time to speak to the two Sudanese men on board. They insisted that the Captain should take no action which would endanger the other passengers. After the landing at Benghazi the two Sudanese were removed from the aircraft by the Libyan authorities. The other passengers and crew remained on board for almost 90 minutes after which they flew back to London.
Sources:
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA7D690OFSVD81BPMJSL9QBLNOZ-LIBYA-UK-PASSENGERS-OF-BOAC-JET-FORCED-TO-LAND-A-SUDANESE/query/Sudan
Netherlands National Archive: http://proxy.handle.net/10648/0d1ffd47-48fe-7f65-5c17-98885c1b94d7
https://web.archive.org/web/20160307154007/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1971/1971%20-%201336.html
https://www.vc10.net/History/Individual/GARVM.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 07-Aug-2020 13:55 | Cobar | Added |
| 07-Dec-2020 16:14 | hoekb03 | Updated [Source, ] |
| 18-Jan-2025 08:03 | ASN | Updated [Registration, Cn, Source, Narrative, ] |
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