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Rediff.com  » News » IN PICS: The 30 DEADLIEST air disasters in history
This article was first published 10 years ago

IN PICS: The 30 DEADLIEST air disasters in history

March 11, 2014 08:49 IST


Thousands of lives have been lost around the world in recent years owing to aircraft disasters.

While some of the mishaps have been blamed on inclement weather others have resulted out of mechanical failures or pilot failures or terror attacks.

More recently, a Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight with 239 people, including 5 Indians, on board was presumed to have crashed and the worst is feared. Intelligence agencies are also probing how four persons with fake identities boarded the aircraft and counter-terrorism agencies of other countries have been alerted about it.

The fate of the aircraft is still unknown.

Rediff.com takes a look at some of the disastrous air crashes.

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March 27, 1977

Image: 562 people died in the world's worst-ever air disaster when a KLM 747 jumbo jet collided with a Pan-Am 747 jumbo on the runway of Santa Cruz Airport, Tenerife.
Photographs: Central Press/Getty Images

Operator                    KLM Airlines

Fatalities                     248

Crash location           Tenerife, Spain           

Cause of crash           Misunderstanding between the tower and the aircraft led to it crashing into another aircraft.

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March 27, 1977

Image: 31st March 1977: Mass of wreckage on the runway at Santa Cruz airport, Tenerife after 747 Jumbo Jets belonging to Pan-Am and KLM collided.
Photographs: Central Press/Getty Images

Operator                    Pan Am

Fatalities                     248

Crash location           Tenerife, Spain

Cause of crash           Misunderstanding between the tower and the aircraft led to it crashing into another aircraft.            

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August 12, 1985

Image: The image illustrates the damage the aircraft sustained that led to its crash.
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons

Operator                  Japan Airlines

Fatalities                  520

Crash location           Tano District, Gunma, Japan 

Cause of crash           Rupture of the aft pressure bulkhead of the aircraft

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November 12, 1996

Image: Firemen hoses down the smouldering wreckage of a Saudi Arabian Boeing 747 November 13 that crashed to earth outside the Indian village of Charkhi Dadri after colliding with a Kazakh Ilyushin IL-76 cargo.
Photographs: Reuters

Operator                  Kazakhstan Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines

Fatalities                  349

Crash location           Charkhi Dadri, west of New Delhi

Cause of crash           Mid-air collision

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March 3, 1974

Image: The site of the disaster at the Ermenonville frest near Paris
Photographs: Picture courtesy: turkishdc10/wordpress

Operator                    Turkish Airlines

Fatalities                     346

Crash location          Ermenonville frest, near Paris

Cause of crash           Uncorrected known design flaw, that left the pilots without control

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June 23, 1985

Image: A door from the Air India jumbo jet that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean floats in the sea near Cork, Ireland.
Photographs: Reuters

Operator                  Air India Boeing 747, Emperor Kanishka

Fatalities                  329

Crash location              Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Ireland

Cause of crash           Bomb explosion

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August 19, 1980

Image: Charred remains of Saudia Flight 163
Photographs: Reuters

Operator                    Saudi Arabian Airlines

Fatalities                     301

Crash location           Runway at the Riyadh airport

Cause of crash           Fire in the cargo compartment

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July 3, 1988

Image: The downed Iran Air Flight 655

Operator                    Iran Air

Fatalities                     290

Crash location           over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf

Cause of crash           Mistakenly shot down by the United States navy

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February 19, 2003

Image: A Revolutionary Guard grieves over his dead c-orescue workers look on, on a near Kerman, in southeastern Iran.
Photographs: Raheb Homavandi/Reuters

Operator                    Iranian Revolutionary Guard 

Fatalities                     275

Crash location           Mountains near Kerman, Iran

Cause of crash           Bad weather and fog caused the aircraft to crash into mountains

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Tags: Iran , Kerman

May 25, 1979

Image: Flight 191 photographed moments before it crashed
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons

Operator                    American Airlines

Fatalities                     271

Crash location           Des Plaines, Illinois, United States

Cause of crash           Loss of control after engine detachment, poor maintenance

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September 1, 1983

Image: The wreckage of Korean Air Lines Flight 007

Operator                    Korean Air Lines

Fatalities                     269

Crash location           Near MoneronIsland, west of SakhalinIsland, Sea of Japan

Cause of crash           Shot down by the Soviet air force

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April 26, 1994

Image: China Airlines Flight 140 crash site
Photographs: Photo courtesy: lessonslearned.faa.gov

Operator                    China Airlines

Fatalities                     264

Crash location           Nagoya Airport, Japan           

Cause of crash           Stall caused by crew error

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July 11, 1991

Image: Nigeria Airways 2120 crash site
Photographs: Photo courtesy: airdisaster.com

Operator                    Nigeria Airways

Fatalities                     261

Crash location           King Abdul Aziz International Airport, Jeddah

Cause of crash           Under-inflated tyre caused a fire after take-off

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November 12, 2001

Image: New York City firefighters in protective gear search the pit at the corner of Beach 131st street and Newport Street in the Rockaway Beach section of Queens, New York for human remains and evidence from the crash of American Airlines flight 587.
Photographs: Jim Bourg/Reuters

Operator                    American Airlines

Fatalities                    260

Crash location           Beach 131 Street, Queens, New York City

Cause of crash           Tail structure failure due to overuse of rudder controls

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December 21, 1988

Image: Scottish rescue workers and crash investigators search the area around the cockpit of Pan Am flight 103 in a farmer's field east of Lockerbie, Scotland.
Photographs: Reuters

Operator                    Pan Am

Fatalities                     259

Crash location           Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Cause of crash           Bombing

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November 28, 1979

Image: Wreckage of Flight 901 on the slopes of Mount Erebus.
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons

Operator                    Air New Zealand

Fatalities                     257

Crash location           Mount Erebus, RossIsland, Antarctica

Cause of crash           Aircrew was misdirected in their flight path

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December 12, 1985

Image: Wreckage from an Arrow Air DC-8 commercial aircraft is stored in a Gander Airport hangar for analysis by members of the Canadian Air Safety Board
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons

Operator                    Arrow Air      

Fatalities                     256

Crash location           Gander, Newfoundland, Canada

Cause of crash           Likely due to ice contamination on the wings

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September 26, 1997

Image: Rescue workers near the torn fuselage of the Garuda Airlines Airbus A300 which crashed into heavy jungle near Medan in Sumatra.
Photographs: Reuters

Operator                    Garuda           

Fatalities                     234     

Crash location           Ravine in the Sibolangit district south of Medan, Sumatra

Cause of crash           Confusion by the air traffic controller

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July 17, 1996

Image: A large section of fuselage from TWA Flight 800 is lifted to shore from a navy barge August 3 at the Shinnecock Coast Guard station.
Photographs: Reuters

Operator                    TWA  

Fatalities                     230

Crash location           Moriches Inlet ear East Moriches, New York

Cause of crash           Fuel tank explosion, caused by electrical spark

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September 2, 1998

Image: The wreckage of Swissair Flight 111 is filmed by divers from the USS Grapple off the coast of Novia Scotia September 20
Photographs: Reuters/TV footage

Operator                    Swissair

Fatalities                     229

Crash location           In-flight fire leading to electrical failure

Cause of crash           Atlantic Ocean, near St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada

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August 6, 1997

Image: The crash site of Korean Airlines flight 801 is seen in an aerial view of the Sasa Valley, Guam.
Photographs: Reuters

Operator                  Korean Air

Fatalities                   228

Crash location          Nimitz Hill, Guam

Cause of crash         The captain failed to follow a normal non-precision approach

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June 1, 2009

Image: A combination photo shows the Brazilian navy picking debris from Air France flight AF447 out of the Atlantic Ocean, some 745 miles (1,200 km) northeast of Recife, in these handout photos distributed by the navy in Recife, northeastern Brazil.
Photographs: Brazilian air force/Reuters

Operator                    Air France

Fatalities                     228

Crash location           Atlantic Ocean

Cause of crash           Entered an irrecoverable aerodynamic stall and hit the ocean

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May 25, 2002

Image: Relatives hold photos of loved ones who were aboard China Airlines flight CI 611 which crashed into the sea on Saturday prepare to board a Taiwan navy transportation ship, to make their way to a traditional spirit-calling ceremony near the island of Penghu.
Photographs: Simon Kwong/Reuters

Operator                    China Airlines

Fatalities                     225

Crash location           Near the Penghu Islands above the Taiwan Strait     

Cause of crash           Disintegrated in mid-air

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May 26, 1991

Image: The crash site

Operator                    Lauda Air, Thailand

Fatalities                     223

Crash location           Phu Toei National Park, Suphanburi Province, Thailand       

Cause of crash           Aircraft broke up in mid-air due to thrust reverser deployment

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October 31, 1999

Image: Debris from EgyptAir Flight 990, that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean 60 miles south of Nantucket Island, sits on the deck of Coast Guard Cutter Reliance.
Photographs: Reuters

Operator                    EgyptAir

Fatalities                     217

Crash location           Atlantic Ocean

Cause of crash           Believed to be a deliberate action by the captain, disputed.

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January 1, 1978

Image: An image of the aircraft Ashoka at Paris-Orly Airport on January 1, 1976, two years before the accident.
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons

Operator                    Air India        

Fatalities                     213

Crash location           Arabian Sea, near Mumbai

Cause of crash           Irrational control inputs by the captain

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July 10, 1985

Image: An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154B-2 similar to the one involved in the accident
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons

Operator                    Aeroflot/Uzbekistan

Fatalities                     200

Crash location           Uchkuduk, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union

Cause of crash           Pilot error

Wikimedia Commons

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February 16, 1998

Image: A China Airlines Airbus
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons

Operator                    China Airlines

Fatalities                     182

Crash location           Taoyuan County, Taiwan

Cause of crash           Bad weather, pilot error

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December 4, 1974

Image: A panoramic view of the Saptha Kanya mountain range in Sri Lanka
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons

Operator                   Martinair Holland      

Fatalities                    191

Crash location           Maskeliya, Sri Lanka

Cause of crash          Collision with rising terrain owing to incorrect identification of their position

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February 6, 1996

Image: Memorial for the victims of Birgenair Flight 301 in Frankfurt's main cemetery
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons

Operator                    Birgenair

Fatalities                    189

Crash location             26 km northeast of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Cause of crash            Compromised pitot tube leading to autopilot and pilot error

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August 3, 1975

Image: The crash site

Operator                   Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines

Fatalities                188

Crash location           Agadir, Morocco        

Cause of crash          After part of a wing separated, control was lost and the aircraft crashed into a ravine

 

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