About 15 minutes into the flight at the altitude of approximately 10,000 feet (3,000 m) the pilot reported an explosion to air traffic control on the aircraft's port side next to the wing and engines.

Seconds later the pilot also reported that the transport was experiencing problems with engines three and four and stated his intention to turn towards Menongue airport, located less than 50 kilometres (31 mi) away, for an emergency landing.

After the explosion, the cargo of two massive tank engines became loose and shifted, altering the aircraft's center of gravity and causing it to bank to the port side.

The black box recordings indicated that the crew tried to level the An-12 and turn it towards Menongue's airport for an emergency landing; however, 47 seconds after the missile detonated, the port wing exploded and separated from the aircraft.

The burning aircraft then crashed in a field about 43 kilometres (27 mi) away from Menongue, with the main part of the widespread wreckage landing in close proximity to the Menongue-Cuito Cuanavale road.

The next day, several officers from the Soviet Military Mission in Menongue, accompanied by Cuban and Angolan troops, arrived at the crash site where they found all 21 bodies – 8 crew members and 13 passengers – at the scene.

In his book Journey Without Boundaries, SADF Colonel André Diedericks, a former South African Special Forces officer, claims that he was the person who gave the order to launch the missile that brought down the An-12.

During the early summer of 1985 one of the previously captured Strela-l (SA-9) systems, manned and operated by a South African Recce group under the command of then-Captain Diedericks, crossed into the Cuando Cubango province, Angola, and with UNITA's help, protection and escort was secretly deployed around the Menongue area.

In the 12 hours after the crash, the after-midnight news reports issued by the BBC, the Voice of America African Service and UNITA's radio station Galo Negro made almost identical announcements: UNITA was reported as having shot down a Cuban military cargo aircraft with Cuban personnel on board, in the same area that the An-12BP was shot down, using a surface-to-air missile.