The world's worst air crashes in recent years

LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) - At least 30 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India's western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, with the toll expected to climb, authorities said.
Below are some of the fatal crashes that have occurred in recent years.
UNITED STATES
More than 60 people were killed when an American Airlines (AAL.O), opens new tab regional passenger jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on January 29 and crashed into the frigid Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
SOUTH KOREA
Jeju Air international flight 7C2216 crashed at Muan International Airport on Dec. 29, 2024, killing all 175 passengers and four of the six crew in the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil.
Azerbaijan Airlines international flight J2-8243, an Embraer (EMBR3.SA), opens new tab E190, crashed on December 25 after being diverted from Russia to Kazakhstan, killing 38 people. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said in December the plane had been damaged by accidental shooting from the ground in Russia. Moscow has not confirmed this.
A Japan Airlines (JAL) (9201.T), opens new tab plane collided with a smaller Coast Guard aircraft on the runway of Tokyo's Haneda airport on January 2. All 379 people aboard the JAL plane, an Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab A350-941 flight, escaped the burning airliner. Five of six crew on the smaller aircraft were killed.
CHINA
A China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS), opens new tab Boeing 737-800 crashed into a mountainous region in the southwestern Guangxi region on March 21, 2022, killing all 132 people on board, in China's deadliest aviation disaster in 28 years.
IRAN
Iran's Revolutionary Guards shot down a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) Boeing 737-800 on Jan. 8, 2020 shortly after it took off from Tehran Airport, killing all 176 people on board. Iran's civil aviation body blamed a misaligned radar and an error by an air defence operator.
ETHIOPIA
A Boeing 737-MAX 8 Ethiopian Airlines [RIC:RIC:ETHA.UL] jet crashed on March 19, 2019 minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa for Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.
Soon after, the Boeing 737 MAX global fleet was grounded over safety concerns.
INDONESIA
A Boeing 737 MAX Lion Air plane crashed into the Java Sea soon after taking off from Jakarta on October 29, 2018, killing all 189 people on board.
MALAYSIA
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 departed from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, and was shot down over eastern Ukraine as fighting raged between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. All 298 passengers on board were killed.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. The remains of the Boeing 777 and the 239 people have not been found.

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British nationals' remains are among the unidentified more than a week after Air India crash as death toll continues to climb

The remains of four UK nationals from doomed Air India flight 171 have yet to be identified, more than a week after the crash. There were 53 Britons onboard the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that crashed shortly after taking off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12. The remains of 26 victims have so far been flown to their families, including 10 to the United Kingdom. All but one of the 242 people on board flight 171 were killed when the Air India plane smashed into a residential area of Ahmedabad, where at least 38 more died. Such was the level of destruction that more than two dozen believed killed remain unidentified 10 days after the jet came down. So far more than 250 people killed in an India plane crash have been identified through DNA testing, a hospital official said Sunday as specialists near a final toll for one of the worst air disasters in decades. 'The results of the DNA sample matches for 251 have arrived,' said Rakesh Joshi, medical superintendent at Ahmedabad's civil hospital. The remains of 245 of them have been handed to relatives and include 176 Indians, 49 British, seven Portuguese, one Canadian, and 12 identified publicly only as non-passengers. 'In my opinion, the DNA matching process will soon be completed,' Joshi said in a video message. 'We are with the remaining families who will be informed by phone as soon as possible,' he added. Air India said Thursday the plane was 'well-maintained' and that the pilots were accomplished flyers. Investigators have retrieved the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder for analysis, as they attempt to find out what caused the London-bound jet to hurtle to the ground moments after takeoff. British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40 from Leicester, was named as the sole survivor of the crash. He was discharged from hospital to be a pallbearer at the funeral of his brother. Survivor Vishwash's brother Ajaykumar accompanied him on the flight but was sat on the other side of the aisle in seat 11J and sadly perished in the explosion Relations of the 53 Britons on board have since paid tribute to the nurses, teachers, lovers, parents, children and friends whose lives were tragically cut short last week. Vishwash's brother Ajaykumar who accompanied him on the flight and was sat on the other side of the aisle in seat 11J, but sadly perished Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek and husband Jamie lived in London and ran a wellness and healthy lifestyle company. The couple posted a haunting video of themselves at the airport waiting to board the doomed Gatwick-bound Air India flight that crashed moments after it took off. The couple are believed to have been in India for around two weeks and in a series of social media posts captured the happy time they had. This included getting henna tattoos, shopping for fine fabrics and other gifts and driving through chaotic traffic in a tuk-tuk. They arrived in Ahmedabad just a day before flying back with Fiongal posting in a video: 'So, it's our last night in India and we've had a magical experience. 'Some mind-blowing things have happened. We are going to put all this together and create a vlog. It's my first ever vlog about the whole trip and we want to share it.' Jamie revealed what a memorable trip they had both had. He beamed: 'We have been on quite a journey and then spending our last night here in this beautiful hotel, it's really been great way to round off the trip.' Other victims include Arjun Patoliya, from Edgeware in London, who had travelled to India to fulfil his late wife's final wishes, scattering her ashes in a river in the village where they both grew up. Bharatiben Patel, known as Bharti, 43, had died just three weeks before the crash. Their two children, aged four and eight, were left orphaned after Mr Patoliya was killed. Mr Patoliya had studied at Liverpool John Moores University and worked as a furniture designer. Witnesses of the deadly crash could do nothing but watch in horror as a fireball, fuelled by enough kerosene to carry a plane from the Indian city of Ahmedabad to London Gatwick on a non-stop nine hour and 50 minute journey, towered above them. As plumes of acrid, black smoke billowed above Ahmedabad, horror spread across the city after people realised that a plane had crashed into the dense residential area of Meghani Naga, less than a minute after taking off from a nearby airport. That horror quickly spread around the world, with the crash making headlines globally.

Daily Mirror

2 days ago

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Pilots have hidden agreement to always say two haunting words before plane crash

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ITV News

2 days ago

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'I will bring them home': A son's determination after losing his parents in the Air India Crash

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