Experts reveal reason behind 'spike' in plane crashes this year after latest accident kills 12 people

Two experts have addressed concerns regarding air travel in recent months following yet another plane crash that resulted in the deaths of 12 people.

Garifuna musician Aurelio Martinez and 11 other people died on Monday (March 17) after the plane they were on crashed not long after taking off from the coast of Roatan Island in Honduras.

The plane had been scheduled to fly to La Ceiba airport on the Honduran mainland, and five people were able to survive the crash.

Both police and fire officials have been detailed the rescue effort under way and were photographed attempting to recover the bodies by torch light.

This comes just a month after a military helicopter crashed into an American Airlines passenger plane, killing all 67 people onboard both aircrafts, as well as a Delta flight crashing and flipping upside down in Toronto.

There was also the devastating South Korean commercial plane crash back in December that killed 179 people.

As news of this latest devastating crash hit the internet, people on social media began to question whether air travel is still safe due to the months of reports on plane crashes across the world.

One person on Twitter commented: "Seems to be a lot of plane crashes recently," as another added: "Planes still crashing?"

And a third simply commented: "another?"

Police attempting to recover survivors and bodies after a crash on Monday in Honduras (Honduras National Police)

Now, aviation safety professional John Cox has spoken to the Mail Online to offer up a reason for the crashes, dismissing one of the common talking points.

He said there is 'not a degradation in aviation safety' and the recent accidents are 'not related'

Cox said: "There have been a spike in the number of high profile accidents this year unfortunately."

He went on: "But the overall statistics are clear that flying remains the safest form of transportation; remember that the US will have 44,000 deaths on the highways this year."

Experts have said the crashes are largely a coincidence (Getty Stock Image)

Professor of statistics at the MIT Sloan School of Management Arnold Barnett also dismissed the idea that there is a growing safety issue in the aviation industry.

Speaking to the outlet, he said: "In the overwhelming majority of months, there are no fatal accidents on scheduled flights anywhere in the world. Are we to believe that the skill that produced these stellar outcomes suddenly disappeared in late December 2024?

"Also, the prominent recent crashes had very different causes, so they offer no evidence of a systematic problem that has become much more dangerous."

Civil Safety and Security Unit at the University of Leicester Dr Simon Bennett has also advised people in general not to speculate on causes until more details are known and released by the authorities investigating.

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