Sharp rise in plane crash in 2018

LONDON, Jan 02 (BBC): Last year saw a sharp rise in fatalities from air crashes compared with 2017 but 2018 was still the ninth safest year on record, figures show.

Airliner accidents killed 556 people last year compared with 44 in 2017, the Aviation Safety Network (ASN) reports.

Last year's worst civilian accident was in October when a Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia, killing 189.

The year 2017 was the safest in history for commercial airlines with no passenger jet crashes recorded.

The Netherlands-based ASN said there had been a total of 15 fatal airliner accidents in 2018.

Among the deadliest: In the Lion Air crash in Indonesia, a Boeing 737 Max plane crashed into the Java Sea shortly after departing from Jakarta. It was deemed to have not been airworthy.

Human error was to blame for a plane crash in Cuba in July that killed 112 people.