South Korea is reeling from the loss of 179 people, who were killed when a Jeju Air plane crash-landed at Muan International Airport, skidded along the runway, smashed into a wall and burst into flames.
The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea when it crashed on arrival Sunday, killing everyone aboard save two flight attendants. The crew members, the sole survivors, were pulled from the twisted wreckage of the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.
Investigators are looking into the cause, focusing on a bird strike and unusual landing-gear failure in the final moments of the fateful flight 2216.
While the aircraft was almost entirely destroyed, investigators will have valuable data to work with as they reconstruct the event. One vital key will be a readout of the two black boxes – the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder – already pulled from the wreckage.
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One of the flight attendants who survived was awake in hospital and able to communicate late Sunday, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
“When I woke up, I had already been rescued,” the 33-year-old told doctors, according to the hospital.
He suffered multiple fractures, while the other crew member – a 25-year-old woman – injured her ankle and head, Yonhap reported.
Tearful family members gathered to wait for news inside the airport terminal late Sunday.
An official called out the names of 65 victims who have been identified, with each name triggering fresh cries of grief.
Under floodlights, rescuers used a giant yellow crane to lift the burned-out fuselage of the orange-and-white aircraft on the runway at Muan – some 288 kilometres (about 180 miles) southwest of Seoul.
Bits of plane seats and luggage were strewn across the field next to the runway, not far from the charred tail.
Authorities said all the passengers were Korean apart from two Thais, a three-year-old and a 78-year-old. They also said they were working to complete the identification of all victims.
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Low-cost carrier Jeju Air said it “sincerely” apologised, with top officials shown bowing deeply at a press conference in Seoul. Boeing said it was in touch with Jeju Air and stood “ready to support them”.
South Korea’s acting President, Choi Sang-mok, who took office only on Friday, convened an emergency cabinet meeting and visited the crash site at Muan. The country has declared a seven-day national mourning period, setting up memorial altars nationwide.
It is the first fatal accident in the history of Jeju Air, one of South Korea’s largest low-cost carriers. Several fatal aviation accidents have occurred globally owing to bird strikes, which can cause a loss of power if the animals are sucked into a plane’s air intakes.
