Major air disasters in last 10 years: CHECK worst and best years in aviation safety

While the Nepal Plane Crash is the first major aviation disaster of 2023, there have been many fatal crashes in the history of the aviation.

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On January 15, a Yeti Airlines operated ATR-72 aircraft crashed while landing at the Pokhara International Airport. The Kathmandu-Pokhara flight was carrying 172 people onboard, with 168 passengers, including 153 Nepalis, 5 Indians, 4 Russians, 1 Irish, 2 Koreans, 1 Argentinian and a French national. Of these, 168 bodies have been recovered, while authorities have confirmed there are no survivors. This is the first major aviation disaster on 2023, and hopefully the last. There have been many fatal crashes in the history of the aviation. In the past decade alone, multiple crashes, killing thousands of passengers have been reported all over the world. Here's a list of the major crashes in the past 10 years:

2023

Jan 15, 2023: A Nepalese passenger plane with 72 people, including 10 foreigners, onboard crashed while landing at the Pokhara airport.

2022

May 30, 2022: A Tara Air DHC-6 Twin Otter crashed in the Mustang region of Nepal, killing all 22 people on board.

March 21, 2022: A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane crashed in the mountains of Guangxi near Guangzhou, China, leading to the tragic loss of all 133 people on board.

2021

January 9, 2021: A Boeing 737, operated by Sriwijaya Air, crashed into the Java Sea minutes after taking off from Jakarta. All 62 people on board, including seven children and three babies, were killed.

2020

August 7, 2020: An aircraft of Air India crashed at the Kozhikode (Calicut) International airport in Kerala. The plane coming from Dubai had overshot the runway at Kozhikode airport and later broke into pieces. There were 186 people onboard the ill-fated aircraft. A total of 21 people, including pilot and co-pilot, were killed in the mishap.

May 22, 2020: An Airbus A320, belonging to Pakistan International Airlines, carrying 97 passengers and eight members of crew crashed in Pakistan's Karachi. It is considered to be one of the most catastrophic aviation disasters in the country's aviation history.

January 8, 2020: A Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed shortly after taking off from the Iranian capital Tehran, killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board. The incident happened took place amid escalating tensions between the US and Iran, and the Iranian government eventually admitted it had downed the plane "unintentionally".

2019

March 10, 2019: An Ethiopian Airlines with 157 people onboard crashed six minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing everyone. The victims were from 30 different countries.

2018

October 29, 2018: A Boeing flight operated by Lion Air crashed into the Java sea shortly after taking off from Indonesia's capital Jakarta. All 189 passengers and crew were killed in the air tragedy.

May 18, 2018: A Boeing 737 passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off from Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, killing 112 people. One passenger survived.

April, 2018: A tragedy from Algerian capital Algires was reported in which a military plane cashed shortly after take off, killing all 257 people on board. Most of the dead were soldiers and their family members.

March 12, 2018: A plane carrying 71 passengers and crew crashed at Nepal's Kathmandu airport, killing more than 50 people.

February 18, 2018: A passenger plane crashed into the Zagros mountains in Iran killing all 66 people on board. The Aseman Airlines ATR turboprop crashed about an hour after taking off in the capital, Tehran, heading for the south-western city of Yasuj.

February 11, 2018: A Russian passenger plane crashed minutes after leaving Moscow's Domodedovo airport with 71 people on board, killing everyone.

2017

This year was considered as the safest as no plane crashes were reported in 2017.

2016

December 25, 2016: A Russian military Tu-154 jet airliner crashed in the Black Sea, with the loss of all 92 passengers and crew. The plane came down soon after take-off from an airport near the city of Sochi. It was carrying artistes due to give a concert for Russian troops in Syria, along with journalists and military.

December 7, 2016: A domestic plane of Pakistan International Airlines with 48 people on board crashed in the northern region of the country, killing all of them.

November 28, 2016: A plane carrying the football team of the Brazilian club Chapecoense ran out of fuel and crashed near Medellin, Colombia, killing 71 people, including most of the players and management.

May 19, 2016: An EgyptAir flight was reported missing between Paris and Cairo crashed, with 66 people on board.

March, 2016: A FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 crashed in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, killing all 62 people on board.

2015

October 31, 2015: A plane of Russian airline Kogalymavia crashed over central Sinai some 22 minutes after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board.

June 30, 2015: A military transport plane Hercules C-130 of Indonesia crashed into a residential area of Medan. The army said that all 122 people on board died, along with at least 19 on the ground.

March 4, 2015: A Germanwings Airbus A320 airliner crashed in the French Alps near Digne, on a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf. All 148 people on board were feared dead.

2014

This year is widely considered to the be the most disastrous year in the aviation history, with close to 550 passengers killed in 2 Malaysian Airlines crash alone.

17 July, 2014: A Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by Russian controlled forces, while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 298 onboard were killed, and the shoot-down occurred in Donbas territory controlled by Russian separatist forces.

8 March, 2014: A Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and till date has not been found. The Boeing 777-200ER with 239 onboard was tracked by military radar deviating westward from its planned flight path, crossing the Malay Peninsula and Andaman Sea. 

11 February, 2014: A C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft of the Algerian Air Force, carrying 74 passengers and 4 crew members, crashed into Djebel Fertas mountain near Aïn Kercha, Algeria. Only one person survived.

24 July, 2014: An Air Algérie Flight 5017 from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria, crashed near Mali. The flight was operating a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 twinjet plane with 110 passengers and 6 crew on board.

28 December, 2014: An Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 from Surabaya, Java, Indonesia, to Singapore with 162 onboard crashed into the Java Sea. Only 116 bodies had been recovered and this was the third-deadliest aviation accident in Indonesian soil, behind Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 and Lion Air Flight 610. 

2013

17 November, 2013: A Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363 from Moscow to Kazan, Russia operating a Boeing 737-500 crashed during an aborted landing at Kazan International Airport, killing all 50 board, making it 2013's worst plane crash.

With PTI inputs