Yearender 2020: Major accidents that India and rest of the world witnessed this year

Air India Express Flight 1344 crashed after overrunning the runway at Calicut International Airport, Kerala. On August 7, 2020, 21 people, including the pilot and co-pilot, were killed when the AIE flight from Dubai with 190 people on board overshot the tabletop runway, fell into a 35-feet valley and broke into pieces. The airline recently distributed interim compensation to passengers of the flight. The next of kin of those killed and aged above 15 were given Rs 10 lakh and Rs five lakh for those below the age of 15. The seriously injured were given an interim compensation of Rs two lakh, while those with minor injuries got Rs 50,000 each.

A passenger plane of the Pakistan International Airlines crashed near the Karachi airport on May 22, 2020, killing 97 passengers. The Airbus A320 crashed into a residential area near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, as it approached the airport. The crash was a result of human error by the pilot and air traffic control, according to an initial report into the disaster. The engines of the aircraft had touched the ground as it landed without its wheels down on the first attempt, before taking off again, Pakistan minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had said. The flight data showed the landing gear was lowered at 10 nautical miles, Khan said, but then raised again 5 nautical miles from the runway, which he described as “beyond comprehension”. The aircraft was “100 per cent fit to fly” and there was no technical fault, he said, but added that the pilots were not “focused” because of the pandemic.

Lebanon's capital Beirut was devastated in August by one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded. A fire detonated a stockpile of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrates left to rot at a port warehouse. The explosion tore through Beirut, sucking in the air and blowing up homes as windows shattered for miles around. More than 200 people were killed and thousands injured, compounding the woes of a nation already beset by mass protests and economic meltdown. The explosion in the port was caused by the ignition of a large stockpile of explosive material that had been stored at the port for six years, with the knowledge of top security officials and politicians who did nothing about it. 

In January, NBA star Kobe Bryant (41), his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people died when a twin-engine Sikorsky S-76B helicopter slammed into a hillside outside Los Angeles in heavy fog on January 26. The helicopter was not equipped with a terrain awareness warning system or flight data or cockpit voice recorders.

A pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party in September caused a massive wildfire in California which razed more than 10,000 acres of land in California, officials said. According to surveillance footage, a group of people gathered at the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa. A couple organised a party where they reveal the sex of their child to their friends and family. A guest at the party was seen igniting the “smoke-generating” firework which ultimately lead to the debacle. Southern California’s San Bernardino County was engulfed in flames as firefighters worked day and night to douse off the huge wildfired.

A fire at a construction site in South Korea killed at least 38 people and injured another 10 in April. The fire broke out when workers were building a warehouse in the city of Icheon, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Seoul, authorities said. They said “rapid combustion” occurred while workers were working on an underground level of the warehouse, adding that they are investigating the cause of the blaze. A total of 410 people including 335 firefighters, were mobilised to respond to the accident. The fire was extinguished five hours after it occurred at 1:32 pm, Yonhap News Agency said. Blood samples taken from 23 victims indicate most had died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

In July 29, over 100 people lost their lives after drinking spurious, toxic, illegally-made alcohol in Punjab. The death toll at Tarn Taran district stood at 80, while, 12 each died in Batala and Amritsar Rural.

In December, 23 people died after being trapped in a mine in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing, the official Xinhua news agency, the region’s second such accident in just over two months. The dead were among 24 people trapped underground by excessive levels of carbon monoxide gas at the Diaoshuidong coal mine, the agency said, adding that one survivor had been rescued, after more than 30 hours of search and rescue efforts. The incident, which occurred at about 5 PM (0900 GMT) in a mine shut for more than two months as the company dismantled underground equipment, is being investigated, it added.

In September, a military transport plane carrying air force cadets crashed and burst into flames near a highway in northeastern Ukraine killing 26 people. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said 27 people had been on board the plane - seven crew members and 20 students. Only one cadet managed to survive. The Antonov An-26 aircraft crashed while trying to land during a training exercise. The State Security Service, a Ukrainian law enforcement agency, said the plane crashed five minutes after the crew commander asked to land after the left engine of the twin-engined plane failed.