Today in History - July 11: The infuriating passenger decision that killed 123 people
More than 120 people were killed in a plane fire that started with a cigarette on July 11, 1973.
Varig Flight 820 was only minutes from landing in Paris from Rio de Janeiro when the fire started in the plane's rear lavatory.
With the plane rapidly filling with smoke, the pilot made an emergency landing in an onion field only five kilometres from the airport.
Of the 11 survivors, only one was a passenger.
As the plane filled with smoke, many of the crew moved to the front of the plane.
The passenger who survived had disobeyed orders to stay in his seat.
By the time the plane landed, most of the passengers were already dead.
The likely cause of the fire was a lit cigarette thrown into the lavatory bin.
At the time smoking was still allowed on flights.
But since then many planes still have ash trays in the bathrooms, even though smoke alarms are installed as well.
Captain Gilberto Araújo da Silva survived the flight only to be involved in another fatal plane accident eight years later.
Araújo's flight disappeared over the Pacific in 1979 with six people aboard.
The aircraft was never recovered.
Debris landed about 480km east of Perth, Western Australia, around the shire of Esperance.
The Skylab crash threw debris across a wide and largely unpopulated area.
The Shire of Esperance light-heartedly fined NASA $400 for littering.
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