Here is a list of some of the worst commercial aviation disasters involving Boeing 747s:
Nov. 28, 1987: 160 are killed when a South African Airways 747 crashes off the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.Aug. 12, 1985: In the worst single-plane accident, 520 people are killed when a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 crashes into a mountain on a domestic flight.
June 23, 1985: All 329 people aboard die when an Air India Boeing 747 crashes off the coast of Ireland. Investigators attributed the crash to a terrorist-planted bomb.
Sept. 1, 1983: A Korean Air Lines 747 is shot down by a Soviet fighter after flying through Soviet airspace near Sakhalin Island. All 269 people aboard are killed.
Jan. 1, 1978: 213 die when an Air Indian 747 en route to Dubai crashes less than two minutes after taking off from Bombay.
March 27, 1977: 582 people are killed in a collision of two Boeing 747s operated by Pan American and KLM at the airport on Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands.