Tragic air accidents in the last week of December claimed 217 lives, overshadowing the end of 2024 and marking it as a year with one of the highest fatalities involving commercial airliners, totaling about 289 deaths since January.
This follows a near-disaster involving an Air Canada flight, which experienced a landing gear malfunction after the South Korean crash.
The incident caused the plane to skid along the runway and catch fire at Halifax Stanfield International Airport. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.
According to media reports, the emergency occurred around 9:30 pm local time on December 29, 2024, prompting the temporary closure of one runway at Halifax Stanfield International Airport while emergency services responded.
Despite the alarming situation, no fatalities were reported, though passengers were left shaken by the terrifying ordeal.
On December 25, 2024, an Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people on board crashed in southwestern Kazakhstan, killing at least 38, according to Kazakh authorities.
In a large-scale rescue operation, 29 survivors, including two children, were pulled from the wreckage near Aktau. Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister, Kanat Bozumbayev, reported that 11 of the survivors were in critical condition.
Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243, en route from Baku to Grozny in Russia’s Chechnya region, made an emergency landing about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from Aktau, according to the carrier.
Footage from the crash site showed dazed survivors emerging from the charred wreckage. All survivors were taken to hospitals, as confirmed by Kazakh authorities.
However, the most tragic crash occurred in South Korea on December 29, 2024, when a Boeing 737-800 crashed, killing 179 people—85 women, 84 men, and 10 others whose genders were not immediately identifiable.
Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, traveling from Bangkok, crashed while attempting to land at Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea on December 29, 2024.
Footage showed the Boeing 737-800 making a “belly landing” without its landing gear, sliding at high speed along the runway before striking a wall.
Among the 177 bodies recovered, officials have identified 88 so far. The passengers were mostly South Korean, along with two Thai nationals.
On December 29, 2024, Sky News reported that one person was confirmed dead and another was fighting for their life in the hospital following a light plane crash on the northern coast of New South Wales, Australia.
As of December 30, 2024, there have been 10 air accidents, with five resulting in 288 fatalities. These include the South Korea Jeju Air crash on December 29, which claimed 179 lives, the Air Canada accident at Halifax International Airport, and the light plane crash on the northern coast of New South Wales, Australia.
