A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane with 98 people onboard crashed in a residential area in Karachi near the city's Jinnah International Airport on Friday, an official of the flag carrier said, but did not confirm any casualties.
The crash took place in the city's Model Colony area, reports Dawn news. PIA spokesperson Abdul Sattar confirmed the crash and added that the flight A-320 was carrying 90 passengers and eight crew members. The A320 Airbus was flying from Lahore to Karachi.
Here’s a look at some of the deadliest aviation accidents in world history.
1. Turkish Airlines Flight 981, March 3, 1974. Fatalities: 346
A plane of the Turkish Airlines carrying 335 passengers and 11 crew members crashed in the Ermenonville Forest north of Paris, after taking off from Orly Airport, in Paris. According to reports the crash was a result of the cargo door incorrectly secured, which opened and broke off causing an explosive decompression.
2. Tenerife airport disaster, March 27, 1977. Fatalities: 583
This wasn’t a plane crash but an accident that occurred on ground. Two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The collision resulted in 583 deaths, and is considered as the deadliest airport disaster in aviation history.
3. American Airlines Flight 191, May 25 1979. Fatalities: 272
American Airlines Flight 191 was a passenger flight that crashed into the ground while taking off from the runway. All 258 passengers and 13 crew on board were killed, along with two people on the ground.
4. Saudia Flight 163, August 19, 1980. Fatalities: 301
Saudia Flight 163 was a passenger flight that caught fire after takeoff from Riyadh International Airport (now the Riyadh Air Base). All 287 passengers and 14 crew on board died from smoke inhalation after the aircraft made a successful emergency landing.
5. Air India Flight 182, June 23, 1985. Fatalities: 329
Air India Flight 182 disintegrated in midair over the Atlantic Ocean, as a result of the explosion from a bomb planted by Canadian Sikh terrorists. The explosion killed all aboard: 329 people, including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens and 24 Indian citizens.
6. Japan Airlines Flight 123, August 12, 1985. Fatalities: 520
Japan Airlines Flight 123 was a domestic passenger flight. The plane route suffered a sudden decompression, a result of faulty repair job seven years earlier. Pilots were able to hold the plane for 32 minutes mid-air but only 4 people managed to survive after the plane hit a mountain ridge, spiralling out of control, following an explosion.
7. Iran Air Flight 655, July 3, 1988. Fatalities: 290
Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down on 3 July 1988 by an SM-2MR surface-to-air missile fired by the US Navy after mistaking it for a fighter plane. The aircraft was destroyed and all 290 people on board were killed. In 1996 the US government and Iran reached a settlement at the International Court of Justice, the former expressing “deep regret over the loss of lives”, and agreed to pay 213,103.45 USD as compensation per passenger.
8. Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, November 12, 1996. Fatalities: 349
A Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight and a Kazakhstan Airlines Flight collided over the village of Charkhi Dadri, west of Delhi. The crash killed all 349 people on board both planes.
9. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, July 17, 2014. Fatalities: 298
Malaysia Airlines Flight was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. It was Malaysia Airlines' second aircraft loss during 2014, after the disappearance of Flight 370 on 8 March.
10. Iranian Air Force Ilyushun II-76, February 19, 2003. Fatalities: 275
The 2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash crashed in mountainous terrain near Kerman in Iran. The aircraft was carrying members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, a special force that is independent from the Iranian Army, on an unknown mission.
