17 of the most horrific plane crashes in history

A Lion Air Flight JT 610 crashed into the sea off western Indonesia on October 28, 2018, with 189 people on board. A rescue operation has been launched to recover the remains of the crash and the unfortunate victims. Though flying is the safest mode of transportation statistically speaking, few deadly accidents have taken place over the years, resulting in loss of lives. A look at some of the most horrifying plane crashes of all time

Updated On: 2018-10-30 01:22 PM IST

Nepal Plane Crash, 2018: At least 49 passengers were dead when US-Bangla Airlines Flight BS 211, carrying 71 passengers and crew veered off the runway at Nepal's Kathmandu airport on March 12. Rescuers pulled bodies from the charred wreckage of the plane after a raging fire was put out. Although the exact cause of the crash remains unclear, a recording of the conversation between the pilot and air traffic control minutes before the plane crashed suggests some misunderstanding over which end of the sole runway the plane was cleared to land on

American Airlines Flight 587 crash, 2001: A regularly scheduled international passenger American Airlines Flight 587 from New York to Santo Domingo, crashed shortly after takeoff into the Belle Harbor on November 12, 2001. The plane crash killed 251 passengers, nine crew members and five people on the ground. The plane crash is considered to be the second-deadliest aviation accident involving an Airbus A300 (after Iran Air Flight 655)

EgyptAir flight 990 crash, 1999: EgyptAir flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean about 60 miles (100 km) south of Nantucket, Massachusetts at wee small hours of October 31, 1999. As per reports, all 217 people on board died. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) claimed that the actions of the copilot caused the plane crash, however, Egyptian authorities cited mechanical failure

Swissair flight 111 crash, 1998: Swissair flight 111, a regularly scheduled flight from New York City to Geneva, was crashed on September 2, 1998, off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. The mishap killed all 229 passengers on board, who were United Nation workers returning to the organization's headquarters. The subsequent investigation into the passenger airliner crash determined that faulty wires caused the plane's flammable insulation to catch fire

Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 crash, 1997: Garuda Indonesia Flight 152, a domestic Indonesian passenger flight from Jakarta to Medan, crashed into mountainous woodlands 30 miles (48 km) from Medan due to low visibility caused by 1997 Southeast Asian haze. The crash killed all 234 passengers and crew members on board. Flight 152 remains the deadliest single-plane crash in Indonesia

TWA 800 crash, 1996: Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA 800) on July 17, 1996, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York just minutes after the takeoff from JFK Airport. All 230 people on board were killed. The flight was a scheduled international passenger to Rome with a stopover in Paris. The plane crash was speculated to be a terrorist attack but a four-year-long joint investigation by FBI, NYPD and Joint Terrorism Task Force concluded that the probable cause of the accident was an explosion of flammable fuel vapours in the center fuel tank

Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, 1996: The Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747-100B en route from Delhi to Dhahran and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 en route from Chimkent to Delhi collided mid-air on November 12, 1996, over the village of Charkhi Dadri, to the west of New Delhi. The mishap killed all 349 passengers on board both planes. It's considered to be world's deadliest mid-air collision and the deadliest aviation accident to occur in India

Aeroflot Flight 593 crash, 1994: Aeroflot flight 593, which was travelling from Moscow to Hong Kong on March 23, 1994, went down in Siberia as a relief pilot let his children play with the controls. The Russian International Airlines owned Aeroflight crashed into the mountains, killing all 63 passengers and 12 crew members on boards

China Airlines Flight 140 crash, 1994: China Airlines Flight 140, a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Taipei to Nagoya slammed into the ground just seconds before landing at Nagoya Airport. The incident occurred on April 26, 1994, and 264 of the 271 people on board died on the spot

Lauda Air Flight 004 crash, 1991: Lauda Air Flight 004, was an international passenger scheduled to travel between Bangkok and Vienna, crashed at Phu Toei National Park in Thailand. As per a report, the cause of the crash was system failure of the thrust reverser, causing the aircraft to spiral out of control, break up, and crash. The plane crash occurred on May 26 1991, and all 213 passengers and the 10 crew members on board died. It was the types first fatal incident and hull loss, as well as the deadliest aviation accident in Thailand

Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash, 1985: Japan Airlines Flight 123 was a domestic passenger airliner which was travelling from the Haneda Airport in Tokyo to Osaka International Airport. After 12 minutes of worry-free travelling, the plane suddenly endured a severe explosive decompression that destroyed the plane's vertical stabilizer. And thus a part of the tail broke off from the fuselage, killing 505 passengers and 15 crew members. Only four female passengers miraculously survived the disaster as they were seated in the left row in the rear of the aircraft, and, fortunately, this was the only part of the plane that remained intact

American Airlines Flight 191 crash, 1979: On May 25, 1979, American Airlines Flight 191 was cleared to take off for its afternoon flight from the O'Hare International Airport, Chicago to Los Angeles. As the jet departed the runway, suddenly its left engine fell off, disabling critical flight systems. The plane rolled and quickly plummeted to Earth, igniting its full jet fuel tanks, creating a huge explosion. The incident killed all 271 people on board and two people on the ground. Almost all passengers were burned beyond recognition

Tenerife airport disaster crash, 1977: On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747s- one belonging to KLM and the other to Pan Am-collided on a foggy runway at Tenerife-North Airport (formerly Los Rodeos) in the Canary Islands. The incident killing at least five hundred and eighty-three people, becoming the biggest air disaster in the history

Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crash, 1974: Turkish Airlines Flight 981 was a regularly scheduled flight from Istanbul to London crashed into the Ermenonville Forest, outside Paris on March 3, 1974. The accident killed all 346 people on board including crew members. The crash, which is also known as the Ermenonville air disaster, was considered to be the deadliest plane crash at the time in aviation history, until three years later when 583 people perished in the collision of two Boeing 747s in Tenerife on 27 March 1977

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