Total fatalities: 153
A flight from Abuja to Lagos in Nigeria suffered dual engine failure and crashed into a printing press on June 3, 2012. Everyone on the flight was killed and 10 people on the ground perished. Narrow roads prevented fire trucks from reaching the crash site, and bystanders in the community attempted to put out the blaze with buckets.
Total fatalities: 154
On September 29, 2006, a Boeing 737 en route to Rio de Janeiro collided mid-air with a business jet. The impact caused the 737 to break up mid-air before crasahing into a rainforest. All seven passengers aboard the business jet landed safely, despite damage to its left wing and tail. Pictured here, the wing of a Gol plane
Total fatalities: 583
A miscommunication with the control tower at Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands caused a KLM flight to attempt takeoff in a thick fog, while a Pan Am flight was parked on the runway on March 27, 1977. All 248 passengers on the KLM flight died when the planes collided, while 335 of the 396 passengers on the Pan Am flight were killed.
Total fatalities: 189 (including hijackers)
Hijacked as part of the 9/11 attacks less than 35 minutes after takeoff, this Boeing 757 was crashed into the Pentagon. As well as all passengers and crew, the crash claimed the lives of 125 people in the Pentagon
Total fatalities: 199
On July 17, 2007, an Airbus A320 overshot the runway at the Sao Paulo airport and crashed into a Shell filling station. All 187 people onboard were killed, and 12 people on the ground perished. Pictured here, a Tam Airlines plane.
Total fatalities: 152
One young girl survived when a Yemenia Airways plane travelling from Yemen to the Comoros Islands on 30 June, 2009, crashed in the Indian Ocean, just minutes from the airport. The Airbus A310 may have lost control in high winds. The sole survivor, Bahia Bakari (12), was found floating in the ocean 13 hours after the crash.
Total fatalities: 90
Shortly after takeoff from Beirut’s airport on January 25, 2010, this Boeing 737 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. Witnesses reported seeing the plane on fire when it crashed. The crash site was located the following morning, but no survivors were found. When the cockpit recorder was analysed, the captain could be heard joking with his co-pilot about how tired he was. Seen here, another Ethiopian Airlines plane.
Total fatalities: 228
When autopilot on an Airbus A330 travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris disengaged, the co-pilots’ attempts to rectify a resulting roll ultimately caused the plane to descend with its nose up into the Atlantic Ocean. No Mayday call was ever issued during the rapid descent. It took five days after the June 1, 2009, crash before the first debris was located. It took another two years to recover the black boxes.
Total fatalities: 158
A flight from Dubai to Mangalore on May 22, 2010, ended in tragedy when the Boeing 737 overshot the runway on landing and continued over a cliff before bursting into flame. Miraculously, eight people survived the crash, but 158 died. A later examination of cockpit recorders found the pilot had slept for at least 90 minutes of the flight.
Total fatalities: 152
There were 152 people aboard Airblue’s Airbus A321 when it took off from Karachi, Pakistan on July 28, 2010. The plane was attempting to land in dense fog and a monsoon rain when it crashed into the Margalla Hills in Islamabad. Air traffic control twice radioed the captain to tell him he needed to alter his course, to which he responded: “I can see”. Pictured here, a man walks through the mists on Margalla Hill.
Total fatalities: 3
A South Korean Boeing 777 crashed during final approach to the San Francisco International airport on 6 July, 2013. The plane came in short and struck a seawall with its landing gear and tail before skidding to a halt. There were 304 survivors.
Total fatalities: 329
On 23 June, 1985, a Boeing 747 operated by Air India was blown up by a bomb at an altitude of 31,000 feet. All of the passengers were killed. The plane was over the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland at the time. The bomb was placed in cargo by Sikh terrorists from Canada. In this image, used for illustration only, an Air India flight in Paris.
Total fatalities: 50
This Bombadier Dash-8 was flying from New Jersey to New York on February 12, 2009, when it crashed into a house, killing all 49 onboard and one on the ground. The engine stalled during final approach, ultimately sending the plane into a pitch and then a rapid descent. No emergency call was made in the final moments before it crashed into a house.
Total fatalities: 127
Investigators blame an unexpected wind shear for the crash of this Boeing 737 on April 20, 2012, just over 5km from the airport in Islamabad, Pakistan. Eyewitnesses in the residential area where the plane crashed said it was a “ball of fire” when it crashed. Everyone aboard the domestic flight from Karachi was killed.
Total Fatalities: 265
The crash of this American Airlines Airbus A300-600 in Queens on November 12, 2001, claimed the lives of 260 passengers and five people on the ground. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff when it hit the wake turbulence of a passing JAL flight, and rudder controls were used incorrectly to correct the plane’s course.
Total fatalities: 104
A 9-year-old Dutch boy, Ruben van Assouw, was the sole survivor when an Afriqiyah Airways flight crashed near Tripoli, Libya, on May 12, 2010. The Airbus A330 was arriving from Johannesburg, South Africa. The plane began its descent to the airport too soon and the co-pilot is blamed for ignoring the instructions of the captain to lift the nose of the aircraft. Ruben was found in the wreckage with two broken legs. His mother, father and older brother died in the crash.
Total fatalities: 965
A United Airlines flight was flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Everyone on board the Boeing 767-222 died and hundreds of people in the building died when the tower collapsed.
Total fatalities: 301
Two butane stoves caught fire in the cargo section of a Saudi Arabian Airline Lockheed L-1011 on August 19, 1980 – only seven minutes after takeoff. The pilot landed the plane successfully at Riyadh airport, but emergency crews were unable to open the doors in time and the plane was engulfed on the runway. All 301 passengers died of smoke inhalation. In this image, an example of Saudi Arabian Airlines Lockheed plane.
Total fatalities: 290
An Iran Air flight from Tehran to Dubai was shot down by missiles over the Strait of Hormuz on July 3, 1988. The missiles were launched from the USS Vincennes, a US Navy ship, which mistook the plane for an F-14 Tomcat. Pilots failed to respond to several warnings because they were not on a military frequency. Everyone onboard, including 66 children, died. In this image, relatives mark the 23-year-old airline tragedy by tossing flowers in the Gulf.
Total fatalities: 349
A Boeing 747 operated by Saudi Arabia Airlines collided mid-air with a Kazakhstan Airlines charter flight on November 12, 1996. All 312 passengers on the 747 were killed, and all 37 on the charter flight perished. The cause of the accident was the failure of the Kazakhstan Airlines flight to carry out instructions from air traffic control. Cockpit voice recorders captured the pilots of the Saudi flight praying as their plane fell from the sky. In this image, used for illustration only: a Saudi Arabian Airlines plane
Total fatalities: 520
On August 12, 1985, a Boeing 747 suffered mechanical failure and crashed into a mountain 32 minutes after takeoff from Osaka. All of the crew and 505 passengers were killed in the impact. Four passengers survived. In this image, used for illustration only, a JAL flight takes off in Copenhagen.
Total fatalities: 1,692
On September 11, 2001, an American Airlines Boeing 767-223 was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, claiming the lives of everyone on board as well as the lives of hundreds in the building.
Total fatalities: 346
A DC-10 crashed outside Paris on March 3, 1974. Everyone onboard was killed. The plane crashed after its cargo door flew open, causing rapid decompression and severing cables the pilots required to operate the plane. In this image, used for illustration only, a DC-10 neing used in a fire emergency.
Total fatalities: 74
A Boeing 727 crashed on July 8, 2011, while attempting to land in bad weather at Kisangani airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two crew and 42 passengers survived the crash. Confusion surrounded the initial death and survivor counts because so many people were travelling with false documentation. Pictured here, a Hewa Bora plane similar to the one that crashed.
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