 Among the 106 passengers who were killed was Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission

The Boeing 707–437 VT-DMN had first flown on 5 April 1961 and was delivered new to Air India on 25 May 1961.It had flown a total of 16,188 hours.At the time, aircrew fixed the position of their aircraft as being above Mont Blanc by taking a cross-bearing from one VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) as they flew along a track from another VOR.