BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- A plane carrying 46 people has gone missing in Venezuela, the nation's aviation authority said Thursday.

    Venezuelan authorities have launched an emergency search and rescue operation, while local media reported the plane had crashed in the Andean mountain state of Merida.

    The following is a chronology of major air crashes worldwide since the start of 2007.

    Jan. 1, 2007: A Boeing 737-400 airplane from Indonesia's Adam Air with 102 people on board went missing Monday en route to Manado, North Sulawesi. All the passengers and crew members were not found yet.

    March 7, 2007: A Boeing 737-400 belonging to flag carrier Garuda Indonesia carried 133 passengers and 7 cabin crews caught fire when landing at the the Adi Sucipto Airport in Indonesia's Yogyaklarta province, killing 49 and injuring 44 others.

    May 5, 2007: A Boeing 737-800 belonging to Kenya Airways flight with 114 people aboard crashed in the department of Ocean, southern Cameroon. None of passengers, including five Chinese and others from more than 20 countries, survived in the crash.

    July 17, 2007: An Airbus A320 from Brazilian airline TAM lost control on landing at Sao Paulo's Congohas airport and skidded off the wet runway. The plane hit a Shell fuel station and the building that housed TAM's baggage handling unit, causing a huge fire. Nearly 200 people, including 187 aboard and at least four others on the ground, were killed.

    Sept. 16, 2007: A MacDonnel Douglas MD 82 plane, operated by Thai budget carrier One-Two-Go, with 130 people on board crashed when attempting to land at the Phuket International Airport in southern Thailand, killing 88 and injuring 42 others.

    Jan. 23, 2008: A Polish CASA C-295M military plane crashed near the airport of Miroslawiec in the northwest of Poland, killing all the 20 people on board.