Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing the 298 passengers and crew, and making it the worst airplane shootdown incident in civil aviation history.

Among the 6 decades' history of civil aviation, there have been at least 16 incidents where planes have been shot down, intentionally or by accident, killing nearly 1400 people. Many of those innocent civilians became the sacrifice of political struggles.

Let's take a look at the 10 incidents of airplanes being shot down with the most victims since World War II:

   El Al Flight 402

El Al Flight 402 [chaoji007.com]

Israel Airlines (El Al) Flight 402, Lockheed L-149, was an international passenger flight traveling from Vienna, Austria, to Tel Aviv, Israel, via Istanbul, Turkey, on July 27, 1955. It was shot down by two Bulgarian MiG-15 jet fighters as it strayed into Bulgarian airspace and refused to land, killing all 58 passengers and crew on board.