Incident
While flying over the Kiev region, the crew reported a fire on engine number 4 to air traffic control and requested a diversion to Borispol Airport. Due to the aircraft's position, ATC vectored the crew to Zhulyani Airport instead. Shortly after, during descent, engine number four detached and the fire spread to the right wing. The aircraft became uncontrollable, entered a dive, and crashed in flames in a near-vertical attitude into a wooded area near Tarasovichi, approximately 41 km north of Zhulyani Airport. The aircraft disintegrated on impact.
Casualties
All 34 occupants were killed. Among them were four Yemenis, five Algerians, one Ugandan, and one Afghan. The five Algerians were Mustapha Ferroukhi, the FLN ambassador in Peking, traveling with his wife and three children. The Ugandan citizen was John Muhima Kalekezi, president of the Uganda National Congress, who was en route to Moscow for a meeting with Nikita Khrushchev.
Probable Cause
The official investigation determined that a leak on a fuel injector caused fuel to flow into the engine nacelle, where it ignited upon contact with high-temperature equipment. The fire then spread to the combustion chamber, causing the engine to catch fire, fail, and eventually detach.