These are the deadliest plane crashes in the last 25 years
A London-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff on Thursday with 242 people on board. Police initially said there were no known survivors, but a senior Indian police official told the country's national news agency ANI that one person survived the catastrophe.
Ahmedabad Police Commissioner G.S. Malik told The Associated Press that the "exact figures on casualties" were still being determined.
Air India said 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals were on board.
Here is a list of the deadliest plane disasters in the 21st century, excluding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks:
2014: Flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine
On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.
All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 were killed, including 193 Dutch nationals.
In May this year the U.N. aviation agency blamed Russia for the downing of the jetliner, a ruling Moscow dismissed as "biased."
2003: Military plane crash in Iran
On Feb. 19, 2003, a Russian-made Ilyushin Il-76 belonging to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps crashed near Kerman in the southeast of the country.
All 275 people on board were killed.
The aircraft disappeared from radars an hour after takeoff, after sending a request to airport control in Kerman to land due to bad weather.
2001: American Airlines Flight 587
On Nov. 12, 2001, an American Airlines Airbus A300 crashed in the New York City borough of Queens shortly after taking off, killing all 260 on board and five people on the ground.
Flight 587 was bound for Saint-Domingue, in the Dominican Republic, departing from New York's John F. Kennedy airport.
2018: Algerian military plane crash
On April 11, 2018, an Ilyushin Il-76 heavy transport aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from a military base south of the capital Algiers, killing all 257 people on board.
The passengers were mostly military personnel and members of their families.
2014: MH370 disappears
On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared 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 was never found. Earlier this year, a new search for the plane was launched more than a decade after the plane went missing, Malaysian authorities said.
2009: Air France crash in the Atlantic
On June 1, 2009, an Air France Airbus A330 disappeared over the Atlantic in a zone of turbulence after taking off from Rio de Janeiro on flight AF447 to Paris with 228 passengers and crew on board.
It took two years to find the wreckage of the plane.
2002: China Airlines crashes into the sea
On May 25, 2002, a China Airlines Boeing 747-200 smashed into the Taiwan Strait, killing all 225 people on board.
The aircraft, headed for Hong Kong, disintegrated mid-flight some 20 minutes after taking off from Taipei.
