Deadliest air disasters over two decades
The crash of an Algerian military plane on Wednesday, in which 257 people were killed, is among the deadliest plane disasters in two decades, excluding the 9/11 attacks.
Here are the others.
- 298 killed, Ukraine -
On July 17, 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.
All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 are killed, including 193 Dutch nationals.
The Kiev authorities and separatist pro-Russian rebels, who are battling for control of eastern Ukraine, accuse each other of firing the missile that downed the flight.
- 275 killed, Iran -
On February 19, 2003 a Russian-made Ilyushin Il-76 belonging to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard crashes near Kerman in the southeast of the country.
All 275 people on board are killed.
The aircraft had disappeared from radars an hour after takeoff and following a request to airport control in Kerman to land due to bad weather.
- 265 killed, New York -
On November 12, 2001 an American Airlines Airbus A-300 crashes in the New York borough of Queens shortly after taking off, killing all 260 on board and five people on the ground.
The plane was bound from New York's John F. Kennedy airport to Saint-Domingue in the Dominican Republic.
The disaster comes after Islamist hijackers crashed three passenger aircraft into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC on September 11, 2001, killing around 3,000 people.
- At sea -
The three next most deadly air crashes were at sea.
- On March 8, 2014 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 mysteriously disappears on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.
Despite an intense search in the southern Indian Ocean, the Boeing 777-200 has never been found.
- On September 23, 1998 Swissair Flight 111 from New York to Geneva crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off Canada, killing 229 people on board.
Investigators say the crash of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was caused by electrical sparks from a damaged wire that ignited cover material on the inflight entertainment system.
- On June 1, 2009 an Air France Airbus A-330 disappears over the Atlantic in a zone of turbulence after taking off from Rio de Janeiro on flight AF447 to Paris with 228 on board.
It takes two years to find the wreck of the plane off Brazil.
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