Russia’s security chief has blamed an act of terror for the Russian A321 airliner crash in Egypt last month which killed 224 people. Whatever happened, the tragedy raises sad memories of horrific airplane crashes that have cost thousands of lives in recent decades .
Some of the worst such incidents—like four crashes in frightening succession into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and rural Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001; the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland; and a 1977 crash involving the apparent hijacking of a Malaysian Airlines jet that left 100 dead—involved terrorist activity. But there are many others that did not, with mechanical problems, pilot error or other reasons blamed for loss of life. Below are some examples of the latter: crashes that left at least 200 people dead in each incident.
March 27 , 1977 : A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Boeing 747 beginning its takeoff crashed into Pan American World Airways Boeing 747 then still on the runway at the Los Rodeos Airport at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. A total of 574 people, aboard both planes, died .
July 11 , 1991 : The landing gear of a Nigeria Airways DC-8 catches fire shortly after takeoff Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It doesn’t make it back to the airport, crashing nose-down less than 10,000 feet short of the runway and killing all 261 people aboard.
April 26 , 1994 : The pilot of a China Airlines’ Flight 140 alerts the control tower at Japan’s Nagoya Airport of his intention not to land and try another approach. But something goes wrong and, a short time later, the Airbus A300 crashes leading to 264 deaths—though a few passengers do survive.
September 2 , 1998 : A Swiss air jetliner that had departed New York’s Kennedy airport on its way to Geneva, Switzerland, goes down off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada; none of the 229 people aboard Flight 111 make it. Investigators believe that the MD-11 lost all electrical power immediately before the crash.
June 1 , 2009 : Air France Flight 447 is on the way from Rio de Janiero to Paris when it and its 228 passengers and crew go missing somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not until five days later that the first bodies are found about 600 miles off the northern coast of Brazil. Two years later, French authorities blame the crash on equipment breakdown.
The first paragraph is intended to ______.

A．memorize those people aboard the Russian A321 airline.

B．show it is the most serious incident in history.

C．direct attention to some disastrous air plane crashes.

D．analyze the cause of the disaster and blame the airline company.

Which air crash resulted from terrorist attack ?

A．China Airlines’ Flight 140

B．Pan Am Flight 103

C．Air France Flight 447

D．Swissair Jetliner Flight 111

Which of the following statements is not true ?

A．Two planes of the same type hit each other on March 27 , 1977.

B．There were over 264 people aboard China Airlines’ Flight 140.

C．It took five days to find some bodies of Air France Flight 447.

D．Swissair Jetliner Flight 111 crashed during its landing.

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