Review of catastrophic plane crashes of Southeast Asian airlines
Until now, airplanes are still considered the safest means of transport in the world with the lowest rate of accidents and deaths compared to other means of transport such as ships, cars, motorbikes, etc. However, once a plane accident occurs, it can take hundreds of lives at once.
![]() |
September 9, 1988:A Tupolev Tu-134 from Hanoi with 81 passengers crashed while approaching Bangkok. 78 people were killed. The plane was completely destroyed, cut into three pieces. The cause was due to the plane entering a storm and being struck by lightning. The plane exploded after crashing into a field 6 km from Bangkok International Airport. There were 3 lucky survivors in this incident: 1 pilot, 1 flight attendant and 1 passenger. Photo: AP
![]() |
September 3, 1997:A Vietnam Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 plane en route from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh crashed while approaching Pochentong International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, killing 64 of the 66 passengers and crew on board. Only two children survived. The plane was completely destroyed. In the photo: The scene of the Vietnam Airlines Tu-134 plane crash. Photo: otofun.net
![]() |
September 3, 2005:A Boeing 737 operated by Mandala Airlines (Indonesia) carrying 116 passengers crashed into a densely populated area shortly after takeoff in Medan, killing 147 people, including 47 on the ground. However, 16 passengers on board were lucky to survive. In the photo: A Mandala Airlines plane.
![]() |
January 1, 2007:A Boeing 737-400 operated by Indonesian budget airline Adam Air carrying 102 people including crew is missing on the island of Sulawesi. A search plane found the wreckage of the plane “destroyed” and crashed in the mountains of Sulawesi province. 90 people were killed, but 12 people were lucky to survive. In the photo: An Adam Air Boeing 737. Photo:AFP
![]() |
September 16, 2007:On the afternoon of September 16, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 of the low-cost airline One-Two-Go from Bangkok caught fire and exploded while landing in Phuket during heavy rain, killing 88 people and injuring 42. When landing in Phuket, the plane seemed to crash into the runway and skidded until it hit a hillside. Immediately, a fierce fire spread throughout the middle part of the plane and was followed by a loud explosion. In the photo: The remaining body of the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was just a pile of burnt and broken scrap metal. Photo:AP
![]() |
October 16, 2013:A Lao Airlines ATR plane en route from the capital Vientiane to the southern city of Pakse crashed into the Mekong River at around 4 p.m. while attempting to land, killing all passengers and crew members, including five Vietnamese. The Lao News Agency said the plane encountered strong winds, causing it to drift out of the radar's range. In the photo: The fuselage of the Lao Airlines plane that fell into the Mekong River has been recovered. Photo: Facebook
![]() |
March 8, 2014:Malaysia Airlines Boeing flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, has disappeared from radar screens. All people on board are presumed dead. To date, the search for the causes of the plane crash has yet to yield any final results. In the past, many hypotheses have been put forward for the mysterious disappearance of the Malaysian plane, such as pilot suicide, hijacking, being hit by a missile or being attacked by aliens... In the photo: A Malaysia Airlines plane. Photo: SA Paul Rowbotham
![]() |
July 17, 2014:Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people and leaving the world in shock and grief. The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Among the victims were a mother and her two children, a Vietnamese citizen of the Netherlands, living in the town of Delft, a suburb of Amsterdam. Many theories and accusations have been put forward after this tragic accident, including accusations that the plane was shot down by separatist forces in Ukraine, while many opinions say that the government army shot it down with a surface-to-air missile. In the photo: Debris of flight MH17 - Photo: russia-insider.
![]() |
December 28, 2014: While the painful memories of the two tragedies of MH370 and MH17 have not yet subsided, Malaysians are still shocked by what happened to flight QZ8501. The Airbus A320-200 carrying flight number QZ8501 from Indonesia's Surabaya island to Singapore crashed into the Java Sea in stormy weather conditions. The accident killed 162 passengers and crew. In the photo: An expert from the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency points to the location where the last signal of flight QZ 8501 was received. Photo: AFP
![]() |
June 30, 2015:The Lockheed C-130 Hercules carrying 122 people, including 12 crew members and 9 children, crashed just minutes after takeoff, crashing into a densely populated area in Medan, the largest city on Sumatra island. All on board were killed. In addition, the crash also claimed the lives of about 20 other people on the ground who were hit by the plane. In the photo: The crashed Hercules C-130 of the Indonesian military. Photo source: VTC
![]() |
October 29, 2018:At 7:50 a.m. on October 29 (local time), a Boeing-737 Max 8 with flight number JT610 of Lion Air flying from Jakarta, Indonesia to Pangkakpinang in Bangka Belitung province crashed into the sea. The latest announcement from the Indonesian Ministry of Transport confirmed that there were 188 people on board the Boeing 737 MAX 8, including the crew. The Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency confirmed that there were no survivors. In the photo: Rescuers salvage debris from the Lion Air plane that crashed into the Java Sea on October 29. Photo: Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency.