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Image Credit: Gulf News archives

1987 - United States search crews reached a Philippines airliner that had crashed in remote mountains with 50 on board and said they found no survivors. “We carried out a search of the aircraft and there were no signs of life,” a US Air Force spokesman said. The report appeared finally to end any hopes that some of the 45 passengers and five crew may have survived. The scheduled Philippine Airline flight from Manila appeared to have lost its way in monsoon rains and crashed in the mountains 15km southeast of its destination, the popular mountain resort of Baguio. A forestry foreman said he rushed to the crash site after he saw the Hawker Siddeley-748 aircraft flying low and heard a loud explosion. He found passengers still strapped to their seats.

Other important events

1714 - Spain and Holland sign Peace of Utrecht.

1843 - Hong Kong is proclaimed a British Crown Colony.

1858 - Treaty of Tientsin ends war between Britain and China.

1945 - Charter establishing United Nations is signed in San Francisco, California.

1948 - The Berlin airlift begins after the Soviets blockade West Berlin. The lift feeds two million Berliners for 11 months.

1960 - Madagascar proclaims its independence as the Malagasy Republic.

1972 - Australian bowler Bob Massie takes 16 wickets (8-84 and 8-53) on Test cricket debut vs England.

1977 - Elvis Presley performs his last concert, in Indianapolis, United States.

1979 - Brazil suspends diplomatic relations with Nicaragua.

1991 - Martial law is lifted in Kuwait.

1992 - UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali gives Serbs 48 hours to halt their offensive against Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.

1993 - Despite peace talks in Brussels, seven people are killed in shelling attacks on Sarajevo between Croats and Muslims.

1995 - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak survives an assassination bid in Ethiopia.

1998 - In a ceremony heavy in symbolism, US President Bill Clinton begins a state visit to China in Tiananmen Square.

2000 - The International Cricket Council agrees to make Bangladesh the tenth Test-playing nation.

2011 - Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel wins the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

2013 - Chinese astronauts celebrate after the safe landing of Shenzhou 10 spacecraft in Siziwang Banner.