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In the early hours of 30 September 1975 a Malev passenger plane crashed into the Mediterranean, minutes before landing at Beirut airport. On board were 50 passengers and 10 crewmembers. None survived.
The European relatives of the victims (including the Hungarian) were told that nothing or no one was found.
Only years later they found out that 37 bodies were recovered and that 20 of these bodies had been identified. Most of the identified were Lebanese. The other remains of 17 unidentified persons went into a mass grave within days. Where? Nobody tells. Until 2008 the Hungarian Government even denied the recovery of the remains.
The cause of the crash is unknown. The weather was fine, the plane was new and in a good condition, the crew was highly experienced. An official investigation was held, but was very brief. The ICAO organisation officially had a 1 page
ADREP Report
,
which does not mention the retrieval of the bodies. The cause of the crash remains undetermined.
In 2004 the Hungarian Government set aside a sum of 100 million HUF (approximately € 400,000) for the location of the aircraft and repatriation of the remains on board of the plane. To this day such activities have not been deployed.
Dutch public broadcast (NOVA) reported on the story and its aftermath (December 20, 2008) partly in English:
http://www.ntr.nl/player?id=NPS_1099780&ssid=203
YOU TUBE documentary
:
www.youtube.com/watch
This site aims at gathering information, findings and news on the lost Malev 240.
Reactions are welcome
at
thelostmalev@gmail.com