Saturday, 14 June 2025
Saturday, 14 June 2025
Charkhi Dadri, November 12, 1996
Death toll: 349
At 6.40pm on November 12, 1996, a Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin IL-76 collided mid-air over Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri, about 65 km from Delhi, killing all 349 passengers onboard the two aircraft.
The Saudi Boeing had departed Delhi airport eight minutes before the collision. The Kazakh flight was on its descent. The Saudi flight with 312 occupants was en route to Daharan, while the Kazakh aircraft with 37 occupants was operating a non-scheduled flight from Shymkent to Delhi.
Having reached the same altitude, the left wing of the Kazakh flight sliced through the left wing of the Saudia flight, while the latter’s left horizontal stabilizer sliced the Kazakh flight’s vertical and horizontal stabilizers at a height of 14,000 feet.
The Saudi Boeing wreckage landed near Dhani village in Haryana’s Bhiwani district, while the IL-76 debris landed near Birohar in Rohtak.
Patna, July 17, 2000
Death toll: 56
An Alliance Air Boeing 737 from Calcutta to Delhi carrying 51 persons on board with stopovers at Patna and Lucknow met with an accident while landing at Patna airport on July 17, 2000.
The passenger flight crashed into a government housing building in Patna while approaching runway 25 at the airport. Apart from 51 people on board the flight, five others on the ground were also killed.
Kozhikode, August 7 2020
Death toll: 17
An Air India Express operated Boeing 737-800 departed from Dubai for Kozhikode with 190 people, 184 passengers and six crew members on August 7, 2020 during the middle of the global Covid crisis. After landing at the Kozhikode airport, the plane shot off the runway and fell into a valley killing both the pilots and 15 passengers, and left 138 people on board injured.
The Indian government had arranged for the flight to ferry Indian nationals struck in Dubai during the Covid lockdown. The aircraft had made its first approach about 20 minutes before landing, but went around. In the second attempt, though the plane landed, it overran the end of the runway and fell on the gorge, breaking into three pieces.
Mangalore May 22, 2010
Death toll: 158
Listed among the 17th worst air crashes globally since 2000, only eight survivors emerged from this incident.
On May 22, 2010, a Boeing 737-800 operated by Air India Express took off from Dubai for Mangalore, with 160 passengers and six crew members.
While landing at Mangalore’s runway 24, the flight overran the runway, hit the localiser antenna, ripped through an airport fence before rolling down a steep embankment on a ravine. As the plane hit the ground, the survivors later reported having heard a bang. As it went down the ravine, the plane split into two. The survivors had managed to jump out of the burning aircraft.
APRIL 1993 An Indian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed during takeoff in the western city of Aurangabad and killed 55 people on board. AUGUST 1991 An Indian Airlines Boeing 737 flight from Kolkata crashed during descent near Imphal, the capital of the hilly north-eastern state of Manipur, killing all 69 occupants onboard. OCTOBER 1988 More than 130 passengers died when an Indian Airlines Boeing 737, flying from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, crashed as it was coming in to land. JANUARY 1978 All 213 passengers of an Air India flight were killed when the captain lost control of the plane after take-off and it plunged into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai,
