On 10 November 1971, a Merpati Nusantara Airlines Vickers Viscount, registration PK-MVS, crashed in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, after telling air traffic controllers they could not make their destination due to bad weather.

[1] Five minutes before it was scheduled to arrive at Tabing, air traffic controllers lost radio contact with the flight.

[2] Controllers at Talang Betutu Airport, Palembang, South Sumatra, reported the aircraft issued a distress signal.

The flight crew reportedly said they could not land at Padang because of poor weather and bad visibility.

[1] All the passengers aboard the aircraft were Indonesian nationals, except for a West German doctor and his wife, and a British helicopter pilot who was employed in Indonesia.