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The crew was led by experienced Captain David Ice, who had over 14,000 hours of flying experience, supported by First Officer David Hamilton and Flight Engineer Giuseppe Belagarda. Aboard this flight was also a wealth of international passengers. As they navigated the early stages of the flight, everything appeared normal. Tragically, within the next few hours, that normalcy would turn into chaos.
The Fire Begins
Approximately 90 minutes into the flight, the pilots made a routine communication to Johannesburg. However, shortly afterward, alarms began to sound in the cockpit: the first signs of an in-flight fire. The angering flames would turn into a raging inferno, slowly engulfing the cargo compartment just behind the passengers.