On September 21, 1993, a Transair Georgia Tupolev Tu-134A-3 was approaching Sukhumi-Babusheri Airport after a flight from Sochi, carrying 22 passengers and five crew members.

At about 16:25, while the aircraft was only around 980 feet above the ground, it was struck by a surface-to-air missile.

The missile was reportedly fired from an Abkhaz vessel operating off the coast. The aircraft was unable to remain airborne and crashed into the Black Sea.

Everyone aboard was killed, including several journalists who were travelling to Sukhumi to report on the escalating war in Abkhazia.

The attack was not an isolated aviation accident. Sukhumi-Babusheri Airport had become strategically important during the siege of Sukhumi because Georgian forces were using the airport to move personnel and supplies while ground routes were blocked.

Aircraft operating into and out of the airport therefore became exposed to attacks from forces surrounding the city.

The following day, September 22, another passenger aircraft became the target. An Orbi Georgian Airways Tupolev Tu-154B was approaching Sukhumi with 132 people aboard when it was hit by a surface-to-air missile.

The aircraft managed to reach the runway but crashed and caught fire. The resulting blaze killed 108 people, while 24 survived. It became the deadliest aviation disaster in Georgia.

Later that day, another Tu-154 was reportedly attacked but managed to land safely.

On September 23, the violence continued. A Transair Georgia Tu-134A was being prepared for a flight from Sukhumi to Tbilisi when rockets fired from a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher struck the aircraft.

It caught fire while passengers were boarding, killing one crew member. Another Orbi Tu-154 was also reportedly destroyed by mortar or artillery fire.

The attacks between September 20 and 23 destroyed or damaged several civilian airliners and killed a total of 136 people according to compiled accident records.

The incidents occurred during the final and most violent phase of the War in Abkhazia, as separatist forces attempted to isolate Sukhumi and disrupt Georgian military and logistical operations.

Investigative accounts and later aviation records indicate that the aircraft were not brought down because of mechanical failures or pilot error.

They were deliberately targeted by ground-based weapons, including surface-to-air missiles and rocket artillery. Accounts identified Abkhaz forces as responsible for the attacks, including missile launches from vessels positioned near Sukhumi.

The attacks drew international condemnation because civilian passenger aircraft were deliberately exposed to weapons fire during an active conflict. They also demonstrated how an airport serving a besieged city could become a battlefield, with aircraft vulnerable not only during flight but even while passengers were boarding on the ground.

The Sukhumi airliner attacks remain one of the most deadly episodes involving civilian aviation during the Abkhaz conflict, with the September 22 Tu-154 destruction accounting for the largest single loss of life.