What happened
On the evening of the accident, flight ME 444 departed from Beirut at 17:09 UTC, climbing to a cruising altitude of FL300. While en route to Dhahran, the crew communicated with Bahrain Control at 19:04, providing an estimated arrival time of 19:28 and receiving clearance to descend to FL50 near the Dhahran beacon. Shortly after, weather updates were provided to the flight, indicating a sandstorm with visibility reduced to only 0.5nm and winds from the north-northeast at 10 knots, gusting to 16 knots.
At 19:26, the pilot indicated they would reach the Dhahran NDB in two minutes. Upon contacting Dhahran at 19:28, the crew reported a descent through 5,000 feet and was assigned an ADF approach. Air traffic controllers instructed the crew to report passing 4,000 feet and to notify when outbound at 2,000 feet. The aircraft reported passing 4,000 feet one minute later and was noted passing 2,500 feet while turning inbound at 19:30. After being cleared for the final approach, the crew was instructed to report reaching minimums and runway in sight.
At approximately 19:32, a loud, brief burst of noise was captured on the tower's radio transmission. Following this, all communication from the aircraft ceased. The wreckage was later located where the aircraft type had impacted the sea, roughly 4 NM offshore and 10 NM south of Dhahran Airport. There were 0 survivors.
Findings
Investigators determined that no mechanical malfunctions were present that could have triggered the crash. While researchers explored various theories, including the possibility that the sandstorm caused inaccurate readings on the radio altimeter—a phenomenon previously demonstrated in testing by Air France—the investigation was unable to confirm any specific cause for the loss of the aircraft.