Seoul (TDI) At least 179 people lost lives in a plane crash when an airliner went off-course, the runway, and erupted into a fireball as it slammed into a wall at South Korea’s Muan International Airport on Sunday, the Korean Media reported while citing witness and officials.
South Korea’s transport ministry told the media that the Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 181 people on board, was attempting to land shortly after 9 am at the airport in the south of the country.
This is the deadliest air accident involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, according to ministry data.
Two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a briefing. The fire was extinguished by 1 pm, Lee said.
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“Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of [the plane] looks almost impossible to recognise,” he added.
Authorities have switched from rescue to recovery operations and because of the force of the impact, are searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee added.
The two crew were being treated at hospitals with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health centre.
Authorities have switched from rescue to recovery operations and because of the force of the impact, are searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee added.
Yonhap news agency cited a fire official as saying most of the 175 passengers and six crew were presumed dead.
At least 58 bodies have been recovered but that number is not final, another fire official told Reuters.
Authorities had worked to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official told Reuters shortly after the crash.
The twin-engine plane can be seen in video from local media skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane.
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The crash is the worst by any South Korean airline since a 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that killed more than 200 people, according to transportation ministry data.
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Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said. Yonhap cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.
A passenger texted a relative to say a bird was stuck in the wing, the News1 agency reported. The person’s final message was, “Should I say my last words?”
The passengers included two Thai nationals and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, according to the transportation ministry.
Two Thai women were on the plane, aged 22 and 45, Thai government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub said, adding that details were still being verified.
The plane was a Boeing 737-800 jet operated by Jeju Air, which was seeking details of the accident, including its casualties and cause, an airline spokesperson said. The transport ministry said the plane was manufactured in 2009.
Boeing said in an emailed statement, “We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them. We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew.”
The United States Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
All domestic and international flights at Muan Airport had been cancelled, Yonhap reported.
Officials said that initial investigations and findings would analysed to find out the real cause of the incident.
