Deadly air accidents that rocked 2024

CHENNAI: The world reeled from several disastrous air incidents in 2024 of which two of the deadliest mishaps occurred in December alone. The one that is still fresh in public memory is the deadly December 29 Jeju Air plane crash in South Korea which killed 179 of the 181 on board.

*Deadly December*

On December 29, a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crashed at Muan International Airport in South Korea, killing 179 people onboard, leaving just two survivors. While the cause isn’t known yet, the pilot had received a warning about possible bird strikes from air traffic control room, and the plane, a Boeing 737-800, had also issued a distress signal before the fatal crash, reports said. Probe is under way into the operation and maintenance of the plane as well. This was the airlines’ first fatal accident since it was launched in 2005.

On Christmas day on December 25, Azerbaijan Airlines’ Embraer 190 flight that was supposed to fly from Baku to Grozny in Russia's Chechnya crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan after it diverted due to severe weather. Thirty-eight people out of the 67 onboard were killed, and 29 others were injured. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to his Azerbaijani counterpart, he stopped short of acknowledging that Moscow was responsible amid allegations the plane had been shot down by Russian air defences attempting to deflect a Ukrainian drone strike.

*More 2024 air mishaps*

- January 23: Northwestern Air flight 738 crashed in Canada, killing six people.

- February 18: Air Serbia Embraer flight 195 struck landing lights during takeoff and created a hole in its fuselage.

- March 5: Safarilink Aviation's Dash 8 collided mid-air with a Cessna 172 over Kenya, killing two people.

- March 11: LATAM Airlines flight 800 experienced turbulence, injuring 50 passengers.

- May 21: Singapore Airlines flight 321 encountered severe turbulence, killing one passenger and injuring 104 others.

- July 24: Saurya Airlines Bombardier CRJ-200ER crashed in Nepal, killing 18 people.

- August 9: Voepass' ATR-72 crashed in Brazil, killing all 62 onboard.

- September 28: Mari Petroleum’s chartered helicopter crashed near Shawa Oil Field in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing six people.

- November 8: Total Linhas Aéreas reported a cargo fire, forcing it to land in Sao Paulo. The plane was gutted but crew survived.

- November 25: DHL cargo plane operated by Swiftair crashed near Vilnius Airport in Lithuania, killing a crew member.

*Emergency landings and close calls*

-- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight incident (December 28): A Boeing 737-800 veered off the runway at Oslo Torp Sandefjord Airport following a hydraulic failure during landing. Despite the scare, all 182 passengers escaped unharmed.

-- Air Canada flight incident (December 29): Flight AC2259 experienced a landing gear failure when it reached Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Canada’s Nova Scotia. The aircraft skidded along the runway and caught fire, but immediate response from emergency services ensured there were no fatalities.

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*Boeing continues to be under scrutiny*

Despite remedial measures that were taken after earlier crashes involving Boeing aircraft in 2018 and 2019, there was an issue in 2024 when a plug covering an emergency exit door on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 blew off, triggering a mid-air decompression, which injured three people. The Jeju air crash too was of a Boeing aircraft.

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-- Plane crash in South Korea kills 177, leaves two missing

-- Azerbaijani airliner crashes in Kazakhstan, killing 38: Officials