AirAsia Disappearance May Mean Four-Year High Air Deaths
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With 15 deadly airline accidents, including the possibility that a missing AirAsia Bhd. jet crashed into the ocean, 2014 will be the worst in four years for passenger fatalities.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows passenger deaths from commercial-plane accidents could reach 669 this year, including the 162 people aboard the AirAsia flight that vanished over Indonesia on Dec. 28. The year would be the airline industry’s deadliest since 2010, when 822 people died in 27 incidents, according to data from safety expert Paul Hayes at London-based consulting company Ascend Ltd. The figures exclude crashes resulting from acts of violence, such as the downing in July of Malaysian Airline System Bhd. flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.