Backgrounder: Tu-154 plane crashes in recent years

A Tu-154 plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski crashed near Smolensk airport in western Russia Saturday, killing the president and all 96 people on board.

The following are air accidents involving Tu-154 planes in recent years:

On June 15, 2009, an Iranian Tu-154 passenger plane crashed near the country's northwestern city of Gazvin, killing all 168 people on board.

On Aug. 22, 2006, a Russian Tu-154 crashed near the city of Donetsk in east Ukraine, killing 160 passengers and 10 crew members aboard.

On Aug. 24, 2004, a Tu-134 passenger jet and a Tu-154 airliner crashed almost simultaneously after taking off from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, killing all 89 people aboard the two planes.

On July 1, 2002, a Tupolev Tu-154 of Bashkirian Airlines collided with a Boeing 757 freight plane, which was flying from Bahrain to Brussels, over southern Germany, killing all 71 people aboard.