An ATR 72 aircraft of the Yeti Airlines carrying at least 72 people including 68 passengers and four crew members crashed in Pokhara of Nepal on Sunday morning. As per initial reports, the plane took off from Kathmandu to Pokhara on Sunday morning. The mishap took place when the plane was landing at the Pokhara airport.
Several passengers are feared dead in the tragic plane crash with already 36 bodies being recovered from the crash spot so far (by the time this piece was posted).
Let’s take a look into 5 deadliest air crashes in the world:
1. Boeing 747 flight collision at Tenerife, Canary Islands
At least 583 people were killed in the deadliest accident in aviation history after two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport, on the Spanish island of Tenerife, Canary Islands. The incident occurred on March 27, 1977.
The collision occurred when KLM Flight 4805 took off while Pan Am flight 1736 was still on the runway. This disaster is the deadliest accident in the history of aviation.
2. Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crash
At least 520 people died after Japan Air Lines Flight 123 (JAL 123), suffered a sudden decompression and crashed at Mount Takamagahara, 100 km from Tokyo. It was a scheduled domestic Japan Air Lines passenger flight from Haneda Airport in Tokyo to Itami International Airport in Osaka. Out of the 524 people, all 15 crew members and 505 of the 509 passengers died in the mishap.
3. Saudi Arabian Flight 763 and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907
At least 349 passengers and crew members were killed in the Indian village of Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, involving Saudi Arabian Flight 763 and Air Kazakhstan Flight 1907 in 1996.
Saudi Arabia Airlines was a scheduled international flight between Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport and King Abdulaziz International Airport. The Kazakhstan Airlines was a charter flight between Shymkent Aiport in Kazakhstan to Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The collision occurred after F1907 made unauthorized descended into the path of the F763.
4. Turkish Airlines Flight 981
The flight crashed into the Ermenonville Forest, outside Paris, killing all 346 people on board on March 3, 1974. The crash is also known as the Ermenonville air disaster. It remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident without survivors. The Turkish Airlines Flight 981 was a scheduled flight from Istanbul to London Heathrow Airport.
5. Air India Flight 182
The Air India flight disintegrated in mid-air en route to London from Montreal following explosion by a bomb planted by Canadian Sikh terrorists in 1985. At least 329 people were killed in the plane crash including 268 Canadian, 27 Biritsh and 24 Indian citizens. The flight was operating on the Montreal-London-Delhi-Bombay route.