Crash site | Rome/Fiumicino airport, Italy |
Airline | SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) |
Aircraft | Douglas DC-8 – SE-DBE – Anund Viking |
Route | Tokyo – Bangkok – Teheran – Rome – Zürich – Copenhagen – Stockholm |
Crew | 11 – 11 survivors |
Passengers | 54 – 54 survivors |
The crash
Early Sunday morning at 05:45 the plane was ready for takeoff. After rolling 50 meters a failure in one of the engines caused an explosion. One of the fuel tanks got damaged and the leaking fuel caught fire. The crew and all the passengers escaped from the plane – some with minor injuries. The plane completely burned out mainly because it took the firetrucks 12 minutes to arrive.
The mail
Onboard the plane was mail from Asia destined for Europ and the United States. Due to the fierce fire most of the mail was pretty damaged.
The recovered mail was handed over to the Italian Post for further processing. This took quite a while as the forwarded mail arrived at the destinations mostly in late June and even as late as September 1970.
I have recorded 11 items addressed to the Nordic countries:
From | To Denmark | To Norway | To Sweden |
Iran | 2 | ||
Philippines | 2 | 5 | |
Thailand | 1 | 3 |
Apart from these items mail is also known addressed to Germany, Switzerland and United States.
A.
Danish explanatory letter.
Size: 297 x 210 mm.
B.
Danish service cover.
Glassine with red printing.
Size: 230 x 148 mm.
Type J 6 (6-66).
C.
Swedish label.
Size textblock: 125 x 15 mm.
Printed on A4-size paper and often cut into smaller size.
Translation:
The attached item has unfortunately been damaged when a SAS plane on April 19, 1970 burned up at the airport in Rome.
Postal Complaints Office
D.
Swedish service cover.
Glassine with black printing.
Size: 248 x 178 mm.
Type Bl2261.07 (April 66)J 6 (6-66).
The cover is neutral except for the type number printed on the backside – see two images below.
Examples of mail