The plane that was supposed to land in Geneva crashed into the sea just eight kilometers off the coast of Canada.
Swissair flight 111 made headlines in 1998 not only for its tragic end but also for the valuable items on board that was lost at sea when the seven-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft that was on fire dove into the sea just eight kilometers off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada.
On September 2, 1998, Swissair flight 111 left John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York along with 14 crew members and 215 passengers. However, just 53 minutes after it took off and while flying about 33,000 feet off the ground, the strange smell was detected within the cockpit, quickly followed by the appearance of smoke, Britannica reported.
Pilots and aircraft crew initially believed there was an air conditioning issue, unaware that a fire had already begun in the ceiling. Upon consultation with air traffic controllers, it was decided that the plane would land in Halifax, Nova Scotia, instead of its intended destination of Geneva, Switzerland. Swissair Flight 111 never made it to Halifax.
Swissair Flight 111 Meets Its Untimely Demise
Several aircraft systems-related failures began to come up on the aircraft's flight data recorder about 13 minutes after the odd odor had been detected by the crew. It was then they declared an emergency and sought to land as soon as possible. However, radio communications and secondary radar contact were lost, and the flight recorders ceased to work, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in its executive summary of the Swissair 111 Investigation Report.
At 10:31 p.m. ADT, Swissair Flight 111 fell into the ocean just eight kilometers southwest of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada. The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was destroyed, leaving behind no survivors and making the event the deadliest MD-11 accident in history.
Investigators and rescuers were able to recover up to 98% of the aircraft and later determined that the fire had sparked from an "electrical arcing event" that occurred above the ceiling on the right side of the cockpit. This "electrical arcing event" then consumed several other flammable materials that made up the interiors of the aircraft.
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The Lost Treasure On Board Swissair Flight 111
When Swissair Flight 111 crashed 24 years ago into the ocean off Nova Scotia, it brought with it an array of valuable treasures. At the time, CBS News reported that according to Swissair official Klaus Knappik, the doomed plane was carrying a Picasso painting called "The Painter," which was worth an estimated $1.5 million back then.
Also on board Swissair Flight 111 was more than five kilograms of diamonds and jewels and almost 50 kilograms in cash, which was being transported from a US bank to another American bank in Switzerland. The cash was reportedly stored in a safe in the jet's cargo hold, as per Wayne Noonan, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Decades after the Swissair Flight 111 Crash, treasure hunters seeking to recover any lost valuable items from under the sea are still prohibited from doing so, CBC News reported. Today, the Swissair Flight 111 crash site remains a point of interest for "pirate" divers hoping to find treasure from the plane or from other wrecks on the jagged coast of Nova Scotia, which is also home to the HMS Fantome wreck in Prospect. Treasure hunting remains illegal in Nova Scotia.
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