2016 brought devastation in the shape of a number of tragic plane crashes – but experts insist aeroplanes and travel by air is safer than ever.
Throughout the last year, there were a number of high profile aeroplane crashes – including the Egyptair flight in May and more recently, the Chapecoense football team in December – but 2016 was still one of the safest periods for commercial air travel, The Express reports.
According to research from international aviation firm To70, there were seven fatal incidents in 2016, which led to 271 deaths, which were widely reported in the press.
In 2015 the number of deaths was 471, and in 2014 that number spiked to 864.
The fatal accidents in 2016 accounted for 0.18 per million flights, which equates to roughly one in five million. While this absolutely does not take away from the devastation caused by the crashes, it’s an extremely low percentage.
To70 went on to report that two of the seven fatal accidents in 2016 were owed to unlawful interference (terrorism): the first, Egyptair plane crash in May – when an Airbus A320 crashed into waters near Cyprus, claiming 66 lives. The second was an attempted inflight bombing on a flight in Somalia in February, which killed only the attacker.
The highest number of fatalities in one accident was in November, when a LaMia plane crashed in Colombia, killing 71 people and the majority of Brazilian football team Chapecoense.
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