2014 has been a year of aviation accidents and incidents. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 30 aviation accidents around the world, leaving more than 1,000 people dead.

Some accidents were caused by technical malfunctions, human error, or natural conditions but some were due to human intention, which the world community condemned as crimes.

VOV reviews some of 2014’s biggest aviation disasters. World aviation history has witnessed a number of aviation disasters. In 1972, a record 3,300 people died in plane crashes.

So far, the worst accident in aviation history was the crash of a Boeing 747-200 operated by Japan Airlines on August 12, 1985, killing all 520 passengers and crew members onboard. But, aviation disasters in 2014 shocked the world and caused enormous losses.

These disasters shook the world’s confidence in aviation safety as well as security and safety in general.

The most alarming aviation stories of 2014

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 mysteriously disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Such a disappearance not been previously reported in recent aviation history.

Several countries joined in a search for the plane’s debris over a large sea area spending millions of US$. The search for flight MH 370, in fact, has been the most costly search for a missing plane in history. The fate of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members is still unknown.  

On May 17, 2014, a tragedy occurred when the military plane AN 74 TK 300 owned by Lao Airlines crashed while carrying 19 Lao officials to Xieng Khoang to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the liberation of Chum field. Four senior officials were among the victims of the crash.

July was the worst month of 2014 for the world’s aviation sector. On July 7 a Vietnamese Air Force and Air Defense helicopter crashed due to a technical problem killing 18 soldiers. One week later, a Cambodian military airplane crashed during a training flight near Phnompenh.

Five people died and 1 was seriously injured in this accident. On July 17 a fire-fighting helicopter of the Republic of Korea crashed killing all 5 people aboard.

On July 23 a civilian airplane en route from Kaohsiung to Penghu island in Taiwan crashed about a half mile from the runway of Magong Airport during its second landing attempt. Bad weather was said to be the reason for the accident. 51 people died and 7 were injured.

But the most disastrous and shocking incident was the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 over Ukraine, killing 298 people. After nearly half a year, the investigation of the case has been inconclusive. Who shot down the plane? Why was a commercial plane shot down? Why did MH17 fly over a combat zone? What did the black box reveal? None of these questions have yet been answered.

A thorough investigation was promised but has lost momentum. Instead of cooperating to discover the truth, the countries involved have settled for blaming one another.

The Ukrainian government has accused insurgents in the eastern region of shooting down flight MH 17 with air-defense missiles. The insurgents have denied responsibility.

Russian officials have asked the Ukrainian government to take the responsible for the disaster while the US and the West have blamed Russia for the tragedy.

This tragedy would not have happened if there had been no war in the region, it’s true, but, the public wants a full and accurate explanation. Who will obtain justice for the 298 innocent victims? The MH 17 disaster is one more tragic example of a tribal conflict claiming civilian victims.

VOV/VNN