MUAN COUNTY, South Korea, Dec 29 (Reuters) – The deadliest air accident in South Korea’s history occurred on Sunday, claiming the lives of 179 people when an airliner made a belly landing and skidded off the runway, bursting into flames upon crashing into a wall at Muan International Airport. jeju air South Korean plane crashes. jeju air South Korean plane crashes
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from Bangkok with 175 passengers and six crew members, was attempting to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the airport located in the southern part of the country, according to South Korea’s transport ministry.
Two crew members survived and are receiving treatment for their injuries. The transport ministry reported that this was the deadliest air accident on South Korean soil and the worst involving a South Korean airline in almost thirty years.Â
Local media footage showed the twin-engine Boeing 737-800 skidding down the runway without any visible landing gear before it crashed into navigation equipment and a wall, resulting in an explosion of flames and debris.
“Only the tail section still has some semblance of shape, while the rest of the plane is nearly unrecognizable,” Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun stated during a press briefing. jeju air South Korean plane crashes
According to Lee, the two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail of the burning aircraft. They are currently receiving treatment at hospitals for injuries that range from moderate to severe, as reported by the head of the local public health center.Â
Authorities are searching the surrounding areas for any bodies that may have been ejected from the plane, Lee added.
Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather conditions as potential factors, according to Lee. The Yonhap news agency reported that airport authorities suggested a bird strike might have led to a malfunction in the landing gear.Â
This crash marks the deadliest incident for any South Korean airline since the 1997 Korean Air disaster in Guam, which resulted in over 200 fatalities, according to transportation ministry data.Â
The previous deadliest incident on South Korean soil was an Air China crash in 2002 that claimed 129 lives. Experts noted that the report of a bird strike, along with the aircraft’s landing attempt, raised more questions than it answered.Â
“Bird strikes are not uncommon, and issues with landing gear are also not rare,” stated Geoffrey Thomas, editor of Airline News. “While bird strikes occur frequently, they usually do not lead to the loss of an aircraft on their own.”Â
Under international aviation regulations, South Korea will spearhead a civil investigation into the crash, automatically involving the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from the United States, where the aircraft was designed and manufactured. jeju air South Korean plane crashes
The NTSB later announced it would send a team of U.S. investigators to assist South Korea’s aviation authority, with Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration also participating.
MY LAST WORDS
Hours after the crash, family members gathered in the airport’s arrival area, some crying and embracing as Red Cross volunteers distributed blankets.Â
Many victims seemed to be locals returning from vacation, according to officials. Families screamed and wept as a medic called out the names of victims identified through their fingerprints.Â
Papers were passed around for families to jot down their contact information. One relative took to the microphone to seek more information from authorities.Â
“My older brother died, and I don’t know what’s happening,” he said. “I don’t know.” Another relative urged journalists not to film. “We are not monkeys in a zoo,” he said. “We are the grieving families.”
