Backgrounder: Major air accidents in recent years

A plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski crashed near Smolensk airport in western Russia Saturday, killing the president and all 132 people on board.

The following are major air accidents in recent years:

On Feb. 21, 2008, a passenger plane belonging to small Venezuelan airline company Santa Barbara crashed in the Andes just after taking off. All 46 people on board were killed.

On April 15, 2008, a passenger plane crashed into a market in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing more than 50 people.

On Aug. 20, 2008, 154 people died and 18 others were injured when a 15-year-old plane crashed and burst into flames during takeoff in Madrid.

On Aug. 24, 2008, a Boeing 737-200 owned by Itek Air crashed shortly after takeoff from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, killing 65 people and injuring 22 others.

On Sept. 14, 2008, an Aeroflot Boeing 737 plane crashed in a ball of fire near the Ural mountains, killing all 82 passengers and six crew members.

On Feb. 12, 2009, U.S. Continental Airlines Flight 3407 crashed in suburban Buffalo in northern New York state, killing all 49 aboard and one on the ground.

On May 20, 2009, an Indonesian Air Force Hercules C-130 crashed and burned in Magetan, East Java, killing at least 96 people and injuring 15 others.

On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330, went down over the Atlantic Ocean after leaving Rio de Janeiro for Paris, killing all 228 people on board.

On June 30, 2009, an Airbus A310 crashed into the Indian Ocean as it approached the airport on the Comoros Islands, killing 152 people on board. Only a 13-year-old French girl survived.

On July 15, 2009, an Iranian passenger plane crashed near the country's northwestern city of Gazvin, killing all 168 people on board.

On Jan. 25, 2010, an Ethiopian Airlines plane carrying 85 passengers fell into the Mediterranean sea shortly after taking off from Lebanon's capital Beirut.