What happened
On a scheduled morning flight, a twin engine aircraft departed from Suusva-Nausori Airport at 05:25 local time, bound for Nadi. The flight, identified as PC121, was carrying a total of 17 people, consisting of two pilots and 15 passengers. During the initial climb along route 28 Golf, the weather conditions were reported as relatively good.
At 05:32 local time, the pilot provided an altitude report of 5,500 feet while approximately 22.4 km from the departure airport. One minute later, a second report indicated the aircraft had reached 6,000 feet. Shortly after this communication, the aircraft disappeared from radar tracking, just eight minutes after its takeoff from Nausori.
Search efforts later located the wreckage in a heavily wooded, mountainous area within the Mataicicia Mountain Range. The crash site was situated 35.2 km west of Suva-Nausori Airport, south of the Nasirotu village, at an elevation of 540 meters. The impact was severe enough to completely destroy the aircraft, and there were 17 fatalities among the crew and passengers.
Findings
No specific cause for the disappearance or the subsequent impact was detailed in the initial reports, though the aircraft's disappearance from radar occurred during the early climb phase of the flight.