Though pilot error was to blame, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded the probable cause was undetermined.

As the aircraft was nearing Caracas, it disappeared from air traffic control's radar screens.

[4] The crash was the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Venezuela up to that point in time, but was surpassed by Viasa Flight 742 in 1969.

The cause of the crash was believed to be pilot error resulting from an optical illusion, created by the lights of the city of Caracas on an upslope.

The book The Lost Lives of the Clipper Malay provides details of the aircraft, the accident, and the long process of recovering the bodies of the nine crew members and 42 passengers.