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One hundred and seventy-nine people died on Sunday morning when a South Korean passenger jet crashed and burst into flames on arrival, according to local authorities, in one of the worst disasters The worst airline in the country.
A Jeju Air flight was returning from Bangkok with 181 people on board when it failed to deploy its landing gear, skidded off the runway before hitting a wall and bursting into flames at Jeju International Airport. Muan in the south of the country.
Two crew members were rescued from the tail of the plane, according to the state fire agency, but all other people on board were confirmed dead, officials said. South KoreaYonhap news agency.
Of the 175 passengers, 173 were from South Korea, while the remaining two were Thai nationals, according to the transport ministry. There were six crew members on board.
The disaster is the worst commercial aviation accident since the 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia, which killed 189 people, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
Former South Korean President Choi Sang-mok – that He started work on Friday after his leader was impeached by parliament – he vowed to “examine the cause (and) take measures to prevent the occurrence of similar accidents”.
“This is a serious situation. We will do our best to deal with the damage,” he said from the scene of the accident.
Local television news reports showed thick smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane, a twin-engine Boeing 737-800.
The transport ministry said the airport’s control tower had issued a warning of the bird strike about a minute before the pilots called the mayday. The crash happened five minutes later.
Department officials said they obtained the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recordings in their investigation into the crash. The pilot was a veteran with a flight record of over 6,800 hours.
Muan Airport will remain closed until January 1, the department said.
Jeju Air, a South Korean budget airline founded in 2005, implemented emergency protocols. “We offer our deepest condolences to the victims and bereaved families. We feel a great responsibility and will do everything we can to find the cause of the accident,” company president Kim E-bae said in a televised statement.
The airline said the plane, which was 15 years old, had undergone regular maintenance and no problems were reported when it took off from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.
Boeing said it was in discussions with the airline about the incident.
The 737-800 is the “next generation” model of Boeing’s 737 single-aisle airliner, which has been doing a lot of short-haul work since it was first introduced in the 1990s.
It is slowly being replaced by the more modern and more fuel-efficient 737 Max, although the Max has been plagued by a series of disasters and its value. Boeing manufacturing processes and safety protocols.
South Korea has had several fatal plane crashes, although the country’s safety record has improved in recent years. According to government data, South Korean carriers have had 67 accidents over the past 10 years, killing 59 people.
In 1983, a Korean Air flight was shot down by the former Soviet Union, killing all 269 people on board. In 1997, a Korean Air plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 of the 254 people on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airlines plane crashed while preparing to land in San Francisco, killing three people and injuring 187.
Sunday’s crash was the second fatal plane crash in recent days. On Wednesday, a passenger flight of Azerbaijan Airlines arrived in Kazakhstan after being diverted into the Caspian Sea off Grozny, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
US and Ukrainian officials blamed Russian anti-aircraft fire for the crash. Russian officials said heavy fog and large numbers of birds caused the disruption, but also said it happened when Ukrainian military drones attacked nearby towns.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijan on Saturday for a “sad incident”, but did not comment on allegations of Russian interference.
Additional reporting by Philip Georgiadis in London
