Hurum air disaster

The Hurum air disaster was an Aero Holland plane crash in Hurum southwest of Oslo, Norway as it was approaching Fornebu Airport on 20 November 1949.

The plane, a Douglas DC-3 with registration PH-TFA was en route from Brussels-Zaventem Airport. Among the 30 passengers on board were 26 Jewish children from Tunisia on their way to Norway, as an intermediary stop before making aliyah, the return to Israel. The plane crashed into the forest at 16:56, and 34 of the 35 people on board perished. A 12-year-old boy named Isaac Allal was the only survivor.^[1]

The crash was the second deadliest air disaster in Norway at that time, exceeded only by the 35 deaths in the 1947 Kvitbjørn disaster. Public sympathy ran high, and the secretary of the Norwegian Labor Party, Håkon Lie started a fundraiser to build a Norwegian village in Israel called Moshav Norge.

A memorial to the victims has been raised at the crash site. It is symbolically fenced and decorated with Stars of David. Parts of the wreckage are also at the memorial. Friends of Israel in the Norwegian Labour Movement (Norwegian: Venner av Israel i Norsk Arbeiderbevegelse), raise money for a memorial in Yanuv.^[2]

See also

• Aviation in Norway
• List of sole survivors of aviation accidents or incidents

References

1. ↑ "12-year-old Boy who survived plane crash laid for 2 days in wreckage". Ludington Daily News. 23 November 1949. Retrieved 15 May 2010. 
2. ↑ Paul Engstad: Norsk arbeiderbevegelses samarbeid med Israel og innsats for fred i Midtøsten : Israel 50 år 1948–1998. VINA Oslo 1998

^ Norwegian report on Norway's relationship with Israel (in Norwegian)

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Page about the memorial (in Norwegian)

Coordinates: 59°36′55″N 10°34′31″E / 59.61528°N 10.57528°E / 59.61528; 10.57528