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are fulfilled 50 years of plane crash of the flight SAETA 232, that appeared 26 years later in the glaciers of the Chimborazo volcano. Photo by Werner Fischdick – Data via aviation-safety.net
The 15 august 1976 one of the most moving and enigmatic chapters was inscribed in the history of Ecuadorian commercial aviation. Hoy, exactly half a century after that tragic event, we remember the flight 232 from SAETA, a regular operation that united Quito (UIO) with Cuenca (CUE) and that became a mystery that defied time and Andean geography for more than two decades.
This accident is the third worst air accident for victims in the history of the Ecuador.
The history of the SAETA flight 232 that disappeared for years
Sunday morning 15 august 1976, el Vickers 785D Viscount de SAETA, registered as HC-ARS, took off from the old Quito Mariscal Sucre International Airport at 08:06 hours to the airport Cuenca. There were four crew members on board the British-made aircraft and they were traveling 55 passengers, totalizing 59 occupants.
At 08:27 hours the last radio contact with the control tower was recorded. The crew reported their position over the city of Ambato, maintaining an altitude of 18,000 pies. After this report, communication was permanently interrupted. The four-engine turboprop never arrived in the capital of Azuaya, immediately activating search and rescue protocols.
The direct route between both terminals presented considerable technical complexity due to the presence of the Andes mountain range and, in particular, to the imposing snowy Chimborazo, a glacial mass that rises to the 6,319 meters above sea level and is located about 150 kilometers south of the capital, emerging as a critical natural obstacle in the path of the era.
Initial air and ground search operations spanned multiple geographic sectors: from the planned route to Cuenca to the area of the Ozogoche lagoons in the south of the province of Chimborazo, even extending unsuccessfully towards the coast and the Amazon region. After weeks of efforts without operational results, The authorities terminated the official location efforts.
26 years of uncertainty and theories
The absolute absence of remains and the lack of technical answers paved the way for a prolonged period of speculation.. Throughout 26 years, the destiny of the 59 people on board fueled urban myths, conjectures about unexplained detours and even supernatural or extraterrestrial abduction theories. For the families of the victims, The lack of physical evidence prolonged the duel in a scenario of constant uncertainty.
| Date: | Sunday 15 August 1976 |
| Time: | 08:35 |
| Type: |  Vickers 785D Viscount |
| Owner/operator: | SAETA |
| Registration: | HC-ARS |
| MSN: | 377 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1958 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 59 / Occupants: 59 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Chimborazo Volcano –  Ecuador |
| Phase: | And route |
| Nature: | Passenger – Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Quito-Mariscal Sucre Airport (UIO/FOLLOW) |
| Destination airport: | Cuenca Airport (CUE/SECU) |
The aeronautical mystery began to be solved in a fortuitous way in October 2002. Pablo Chíquiza and Flavio Armas, members of the Nuevos Horizontes mountaineering club, They undertook an expedition to ascend the Chimborazo volcano through a little explored northeast face of the mountain.
During the second day of the journey, upon reaching an altitude of 5,550 meters above sea level, the mountaineers identified elements foreign to the natural environment: metal fragments and newspapers from the time, protected by the low temperatures of the glacier, they still retained their legibility. After spending the night nearby and completing the descent, the corresponding verifications were coordinated.
in february 2003, after the public dissemination of the sighting of material and human remains on the García Moreno glacier by mountaineer Miguel Cazar, An official commission made up of the original discoverers and commandos from the “Patria” Special Forces Brigade of the Armed Forces moved to the exact site of the impact.. Technical investigations by the aeronautical authorities confirmed that the remains corresponded to the Vickers Viscount HC-ARS from the flight. 232 by SAETA.
The analysis of the impact determined that the aircraft collided directly with the slopes of the volcano, being immediately buried under the flow of the glacier, which prevented its visual detection during search operations for 1976.
Due to the extreme complexity of geographical access and out of respect for the victims, The area of the accident was officially declared a cemetery, determining the permanence of the remains in the place. The discovery closed the oldest enigma of commercial aviation in the Ecuador, providing technical certainties and peace to the families of the 59 occupants who today rest on the Andean summit.
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