Airliner accidents death toll reaches eight-year high of 716

THE number of deaths in passenger airliner accidents worldwide from January to June 2002 was the highest total for the first half of a year for eight years, it was revealed yesterday.

The 716 fatalities figure was far in excess of the 114 in the first six months of 2001 and was the worst since 1994 when 741 people died in the January-June period, statistics from Flight International magazine revealed.

The 2002 figures do not include the July 1 mid-air crash of a Boeing 757 freighter and a Bashkirian Airlines passenger plane over southern Germany in which 71 people died.