HONG KONG – The number of ****** in jetliner disasters spiked last year despite there being fewer accidents in total, an international ******* industry group said Monday.

The International Air Transport Association said in its annual safety report that 641 people **** in ******* accidents in 2014. Its figures don’t include the 298 people ****** when ***************** ********* was downed over *******.

There were 210 ****** in 2013 and the five year average is 517 ******.

IATA said last year was marked by two “extraordinary and tragic events” both involving *****************: ********* and earlier in the year the disappearance of Flight 370 which was carrying 239 people.

The IATA numbers don’t count ********* because the plane was shot down by anti-aircraft ******* and so wasn’t classified as an ********.

The number of ***** airplane ******* fell to 12 last year from 16 the previous year and the five year average of 19.

The group said that translated into one serious ******** in which an aircraft is destroyed or severely damaged for every 4.4 million flights, a record low. In 2013, the so-called hull loss rate was one plane written off for every 2.4 million flights.

IATA Director-General Tony Tyler said flying overall was getting safer despite a string of recent disasters involving Asian carriers that has raised concerns about flight safety and left the region’s serious ******** rate higher than the global average.

“It would be a mistake to think that flying in Asia is unsafe, but it would also be naive to think there were no issues at all,” Tyler said.

Airlines have expanded rapidly over the past decade in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, straining the region’s aviation infrastructure and runway capacity and forcing carriers to scramble for pilots.

Three of last year’s 12 plane ******* involved *** aircraft and accounted for the bulk of the ******. In December, an AirAsia *** carrying 162 people crashed into the Java Sea. In July, an Air Algerie *** went down in Mali during bad weather, ******* all 116 aboard.

The nine other ******* involved turboprop aircraft, including a TransAsia ATR-72 that crashed in July on the Penghu island chain in the Taiwan Strait, ******* 58 people.

Another TransAsia turboprop crashed in February this year, ******* more than 40 people.