If confirmed, the Malaysia Airlines flight officials say was shot down in Ukraine will be the fourth commercial airliner to suffer such a fate.
If the Malaysia Airlines plane was indeed shot down, it would be the fourth commercial airliner to face such a fate.
The previous three were:
- April 20, 1978: Korean Air Lines Flight 902, which diverted from its planned course on a flight from Paris to Seoul and strayed over the Soviet Union. After being fired upon by an interceptor aircraft, the crew made a forced landing at night on the surface of a frozen lake. Two of the 97 passengers were killed by the hostile fire.
- Sept. 1, 1983: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 shot down by at least one Soviet air-to-air missile after the 747 had strayed into Soviet airspace. All 240 passengers and 29 crew were killed.
- July 3, 1988: Iran Air Flight 655 Aircraft was shot down by a surface-to-air missile from the American naval vessel U.S.S. Vincennes. All 16 crew and 274 passengers were killed.
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