8 of the worst plane crashes from the past five years

This week at Nepal's Kathmandu, 49 people died after the plane that was carrying them crashed while trying to land.

71 people were on board the 17-year-old plane that was operated by the Bangladeshi airline US-Bangla.

Rescuers managed to pull bodies from the burnt-out wreckage with the BBC reporting that 22 survivors are now being treated for their injuries in hospital.

Eight people who were believed to be missing have now been confirmed as dead by local authorities.

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Just hours prior to this, a helicopter crashed into New York's East River resulting in the death of five people.

Only the pilot survived the tragedy and has since been discharged from a hospital.

The cause of the crash has not been disclosed, but the helicopter did belong to a sightseeing charter service and was reportedly on a private charter "photo shoot".

Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Although plane and aviation crashes are reported in the media, you may not realise how frequent they can be.

Despite the Aviation Safety Network releasing stats showing that 2017 was the safest year on record for passenger flights, with no recorded fatalities, there were still 10 non-commercial accidents which resulted in 79 deaths.

In 2016 the numbers were much higher, with 16 accidents recorded with a total of 303 lives being lost.

Given that the rate of accidents is just one in 7,360,000, according to ASN, it would seem that aviation safety on a whole has improved in the past two years.

Yet that shouldn't diminish from the fact that many fatal accidents have occurred in recent history. To give you a better idea of the magnitude of these tragedies, here are eight of the worst accidents from the past five years that you may have missed.

This list does not include the widely reported Metrojet Flight 9268 crash or the two Malaysia Airline crashes of 2014.

Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 – 65 dead.

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The Aseman Airlines disaster happened on 18 February this year after the plane came down in the Zagros Mountains to the west of Iran.

The 24-year-old aircraft was on a 344 miles flight from Tehran to Yasuj. Everyone onboard died.

The ATR72 plane was one of the youngest vehicles in the airline's fleet, which is said to be one of the oldest in the world.

Saratov Airlines Flight 703 – 71 dead.

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Just a few days before the tragedy in Iran, an An-148 jet belonging to Saratov Airlines crashed after taking off from Domodedovo Airport in Moscow, on 11 February.

All 71 people on board died after the plane crashed near the Argunovo village. The plane was flying to Orsk Airport in southern Russia.

In an examination of the aircraft after the crash, the airline was found to have violated safety rules.

Myanmar Air Force – 122 dead.

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This was the only major air disaster in 2017 and it happened on 7 June. The aircraft belonged to the Myanmar Air Force and it is the worst aviation disaster in the history of the Asian country.

The plane was carrying 108 military staff, as well as their families. Everyone onboard, including the crew, died after the plane crashed into the Andaman Sea.

It was flying to Yangon International Airport where the pilot reportedly lost control due to adverse weather conditions.

Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev flight – 92 dead.

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On Christmas Day 2016, a Russian military plane crashed into the Black Sea killing everyone on board.

It was en route to the Khmeimim Air Base in Syria and was carrying an ensemble choir from the Russian military, who were due to perform at the New Year's Day celebrations.

The plane had taken off from Chkalovsky Airport in Moscow and had stopped over at Sochi International Airport. An investigation into the accident revealed that a technical malfunction had caused the crash.

Sumatra Indonesian Air Force C-130 – 143 dead.

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On June 30, 2015, 143 military personnel, their families and crew died after an Indonesian Air Force plane crashed in Medan, North Sumatra.

22 people on the ground also died as a result of the disaster after it crashed into a residential neighbourhood.

There was reportedly no flight recorder on board the plane but upon investigation, it was found that an engine had malfunctioned.

Germanwings Flight 9525 – 150 dead.

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All 150 people died on board the Germanwings flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf on March 24, 2015, after the pilot deliberately crashed the plane into the French Alps.

Andreas Lubitz had been told to seek psychiatric treatment in the weeks before the accident, revealed a report by the French air accident investigation bureau, BEA.

It was the first accident in the history of the budget airline. The accident resulted in some countries implementing changes to ensure that two authorised personnel be present in a cockpit at all times.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 – 162 dead.

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All 162 people who were onboard the AirAsia flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore on December 28, 2014, died when the plane crashed into the Java Sea.

The accident was caused by a multitude of problems including a cracked piece of soldering on the circuit board and a physical dispute between the two pilots over the controls of the plane.

Authorities were searching for bodies from the wreckage until March 17, 2015. It was the second deadliest crash in Indonesian history.

Air Algerie Flight 5017 – 116 dead.

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The Air Algerie disaster occurred on July 24, 2014, and resulted in the death of all 116 people on board after technical difficulties caused it to crash in the desert near Gossi, Mali.

The plane was en route to Algiers, Algeria from Burkina Faso. It disappeared around 50 minutes after taking off, where high altitudes reportedly caused the engines to ice.

This was the fourth worst aviation disaster in 2014 following the Indonesian AirAsia crash and the two involving Malaysia Airlines.

HT BBC

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