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By Ju-min Park and Hongji Kim
MUAN COUNTY, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korea’s acting president Choi Sang-mok on Monday ordered an emergency security review of the country’s entire aviation system as investigators work to identify the victims and determine whether what caused the deadliest air disaster in the country.
The crash on Sunday killed 179 people when a Jeju Air jet skidded off the edge of the runway, bursting into flames when it hit a wall at Muan International Airport. Two workers were rescued alive.
The most important thing now is to identify the victims, support their families and arrest the two survivors, Choi told a disaster management conference in Seoul.
“Even before the final results come out, we ask that the authorities publicly announce the accident investigation process and inform the families of the deceased as soon as possible,” he said.
“Once the recovery of the accidents is done, An emergency situation to conduct an emergency safety review of the entire aviation operation system to prevent the recurrence of aviation accidents. like that.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 175 passengers and six crew on board, was attempting to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Sunday at the airport south of country.
Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather as possible factors in the crash, fire officials said. Experts say many questions remain, including why the twin-engine Boeing (NYSE: ) 737-800 seems to be moving faster and why its inventory of the landing did not appear to go down as it went down the runway and into the wall.
The accident killed most of the locals who were returning from a holiday in Thailand, while two Thai nationals also died.
On Monday morning, investigators were trying to identify some of the last remaining victims, while grieving families waited inside the Muan airport.
Park Han-shin, who lost his brother in the accident, said he was told by the authorities that his brother is known but he has not seen his body.
Park called on the families of other victims to come together to respond to the disaster and recovery efforts, citing the 2014 shipwreck that killed more than 300 people. The long-running effort to find the victims and cause of the sinking is they followed the disaster.
Emergency workers were sifting through the near-total wreckage when the plane was engulfed in flames and debris at a regional airport near the west coast. country and winding.
Department of Transportation officials say the jet’s data recorder has been found, but it appears to have external damage and it’s unclear if the data was safe to review.
Muan Airport remained closed until Wednesday but other national and regional airports including the main Incheon International Airport were operating as planned.
Shares of South Korean carrier Jeju Air hit their lowest level on record on Monday, trading down 15.7%.
Under international aviation law, South Korea will lead a public investigation into the crash and itself include the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States, where the plane was designed and built.
The NTSB said it is leading a team of US investigators to assist South Korean air traffic controllers. Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration were also participating.
Choi, who was in charge of recovery and investigation efforts, became the acting leader three days ago after the country’s president and prime minister were impeached over the imposition of temporary martial law.
