The world is in shock after a Malaysian Airlines jetliner was brought down Thursday over Ukrainian airspace, with all 298 people aboard flight MH17 presumed dead. But this isn't the first time a civilian plane has been shot down.
Since 1978, there have been at least five incidents in which civilian passenger planes have come under attack:
Siberia Airlines Flight 1812: En route from Tel Aviv, Israel to Novosibirsk, Russia, the Tupolev Tu-154 was shot down by the Ukrainian military over the Black Sea on Oct. 4, 2001. An estimated 78 people aboard the plane were killed, after it crashed approximately 190 kilometres southwest of the Russian resort town of Sochi.
Transair Georgia: Three civilian planes belonging to the airline came under attack by rebels in Georgia, over the course of three consecutive days in the city of Sukhumi starting on Sept. 21, 1993. An estimated 136 people died in the attacks.
Iran Air Flight 655: The civilian flight from Tehran to Dubai was downed by the U.S. Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes on July 3, 1988. The attack took place in Iranian airspace, over the country’s territorial waters. The U.S. government claimed that the crew of the Vincennes mistook the plane for an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter plane. All 290 people aboard the plane died.
Korean Air Lines flight 007: The flight from New York City to Seoul, Korea, was shot down by a Soviet fighter plane on Sept. 1, 1983 near Moneron Island in eastern Russia, after the plane flew into Soviet airspace. The plane was carrying 269 people, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald. All of the passengers were killed.
Korean Air Lines Flight 902: The Boeing 707-321B was shot down by Soviet air defence forces near Murmansk, close to the Finnish border, on April 20, 1978, after the plane entered Soviet airspace and failed to respond to Soviet ground control.
Two of the 109 people aboard KAL 902 were killed, as the plane had to make an emergency landing on a frozen lake near the Russian-Finnish border.
