New Delhi - A Kazakh Airlines pilot's failure to understand instructions from air controllers was one of the main causes of the world's worst midair collision two years ago, an Indian investigation has concluded. Altogether 349 people were killed in November 1996 when a Kazakh Airlines Ilyushin-76 coming in to New Delhi collided with a Saudi Arabian Boeing 747 which had just taken off.
There were no survivors of the collision, which caused the aircraft to erupt into a fireball and left a trail of debris 4.5 miles long and 1.25 miles wide on the ground. The report said the civil/military air traffic control co-ordination in India suffers from "serious shortcoming which adversely affect air safety".