Poor visibility and low cloud cover resulted in an aborted landing attempt, leading to a second attempt which ended with the Douglas C-47B hitting the outermost pole of the approach lighting system before crashing into a field and catching fire.

The aircraft was a Douglas C-47B-20-DK (registration: G-ANTB), converted to a DC-3 for civil use, that had its first flight in 1945, with a total of 18,544 flying hours before the accident.

Low cloud cover at Jersey likely made it hard for the pilots to see the runway, leading to an aborted first landing attempt.

All 23 passengers, most of whom were believed to be French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese migrant farm workers, along with three of the four crew members, were killed.

The only survivor was a French flight attendant who was sitting in the rear of the cabin, which had separated from the remainder of the fuselage following the impact.