On 30 September 1975, the aircraft operating the route, a Tupolev Tu-154 of Malév Hungarian Airlines, on its final approach for landing, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea just off the coast of Lebanon.

[3] The cabin crew consisted of flight attendants Ágnes Kmeth, Richárd Fried, Mercedesz Szentpály, Miklósné Herczegh and Lászlóné Németh.

In his book "Das Geheimnis von Malev Flug 240 - mysteriöser Absturz vor Beirut", Austrian aviation expert and journalist Patrick Huber, citing the Hungarian TV documentary "A Malév 240-es járatának története", writes that an informant named "Jessica", who spoke English with a British accent, said in an interview that the plane was shot down by an Israeli Phantom fighter jet.

[5]: 64, 67, 91, 92 [better source needed] In an interview with Patrick Huber for his book at the beginning of 2024, László Németh said: "I also had a conversation with the officer who was in charge of passport control for VIP passengers that day.

This meant that the 53 Palestinians appeared in all of Malév's official records and I have every reason to believe that the Israeli secret service therefore also assumed that they had actually boarded the flight.

[citation needed] In December 2008, Dutch broadcaster NTR aired a piece on Malév Flight 240 alleging that there is existing photographic documentation of the search and rescue or recovery operation, and that fifteen unidentified bodies were recovered.