Backgrounder: World's mysterious airplane crashes

SilkAir Flight 185, all 104 on board dead

SilkAir Flight 185 was a scheduled SilkAir passenger flight from Jakarta, Indonesia to Singapore. The Boeing 737-36N crashed into the Musi River in southern Sumatra, Indonesia, on Dec 19, 1997, killing all 97 passengers and seven crew members on board.

The Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee reported it could not determine a cause of the crash due to inconclusive evidence.

The American National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also participated in the investigation. It found the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder stopped recording minutes before the abrupt descent, but not at the same time. The radio continued to work after the failure of the recorders, which indicates power failure was not the cause.

The US body concluded the evidence was consistent with a deliberate manipulation of the flight controls, most likely by the captain.