What happened
A cargo operation traveling from Malta-Luqa to Stansted ended in a fatal accident during the arrival phase. While attempting to land, the crew encountered degraded visibility caused by adverse weather conditions. This led the captain to initiate a go-around on the first approach attempt.
Following this, a second landing attempt was also aborted. During the third approach, the pilot-in-command descended beneath the established glide path in an effort to regain visual contact with the terrain. Consequently, the aircraft type struck trees approximately 0.75 miles before reaching the runway threshold, resulting in a post-impact fire. The impact and subsequent fire caused the total destruction of the plane and resulted in four fatalities among the crew.
Findings
Investigations into the accident determined that the primary factor was an operational error by the captain. Specifically, the pilot continued the descent below the required critical height without having adequate visual references to the ground.