Varig Flight 797 was a flight from Abidjan

Abidjan

Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...

, Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire

The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...

 to Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. On 3 January 1987 the Boeing 707-379C

Boeing 707

The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...

 used for the route crashed on the terrain, killing all 12 crew members and 38 of 39 passengers.

When departing Abidjan the aircraft developed problems with its left (No. 1) engine. While returning the aircraft crashed into the jungle 18 km from the airport.

Four days after the disaster, Ahmad Wansa, a British citizen who was injured in the crash, died on board a Swiss aircraft while arriving in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

; he was going to be transferred to a burn unit in a Paris suburb. The sole remaining survivor, identified as Ivory Coast University Prof. Neuba Yessoh, had burns on less than 20 percent of his body.

Nationality	Passengers	Crew	Total
	10	12	22
	2	0	2
	13	0	13
	3	0	3
	2	0	2
	2	0	2
	2	0	2
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
	1	0	1
Total	39	12	51

External links

• Aircraft details at Aviation Safety Network
• "Jetliner Crashes in W. Africa; 49 Killed, 2 Survive." Los Angeles Times
  Los Angeles Times
  The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
  
  . January 4, 1987.