On 4 December 1974, the Douglas DC-8 operating the flight crashed into a mountain shortly before landing, killing all 191 people aboard – 182 passengers, all of whom were Indonesian Hajj pilgrims, and nine crew members.

The crew then continued their descent until the aircraft crashed into Saptha Kanya mountain range at an altitude of approximately 4,355 ft (1,327 m) and at around 40 nmi (74 km; 46 mi) east of Colombo.

The aircraft was owned by Martinair, which at the time was operating Hajj charter flights for Garuda Indonesian Airways.

[2] Investigators listed the cause of the accident to be a "collision with rising terrain as the crew descended the aircraft below safe altitude owing to incorrect identification of their position vis-a-vis the airport.

The investigation is of the opinion that this was the result of dependence on Doppler and Weather Radar Systems on board PH-MBH which left room for misinterpretation.

The aircraft contacted Katunayaka approach control at around 16:16 UTC (21:30 local) indicating that they were 130 miles (113 nmi; 209 km) away and so approach reported the weather conditions and requested the aircraft to change over to Colombo area control for a descent clearance.

Approach control then cleared the aircraft down to 2,000 feet (610 m) and the flight crew was required to report back if they sighted the airfield or if their position was overhead the 'Katunayake Non-Directional Beacon'.

The sound of the aircraft exploding on impact was heard clearly by residents close to the site of the crash.