Plane crash kills 179 in South Korea’s worst aviation disaster By Reuters

By Ju-min Park, Hongji Kim and Hyunsu Yim

MUAN COUNTY, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korea’s worst-ever plane crash killed 179 people on Sunday, when a plane skidded off the end of a runway, it burst into flames as it hit Muan’s wall. International Airport.

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 am (0000 GMT) at the southern airport, South Korea’s transport ministry said.

Two crew members survived and are being treated for injuries.

The worst plane crash on South Korean soil was the worst involving a South Korean airliner in nearly three decades, the transport ministry said.

The twin-engine Boeing (NYSE: ) 737-800 was seen in local media video skidding down the runway with no visible landing gear before hitting the runway and the wall with an explosion of flames and dirt.

“Only the tail part has a small shape, and the rest (of the plane) looks difficult to recognize,” Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a press conference.

Two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Lee said. They were being treated in hospitals with moderate to serious injuries, said the head of the local public health center.

Researchers are examining bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said. Yonhap news agency quoted airport officials as saying that such a strike may have caused the gliders to malfunction.

The crash was the worst for any South Korean airliner since the 1997 Korean Air Guam crash that killed more than 200 people, transportation ministry data showed. The previous worst on South Korean soil was the Air China (OTC:) crash that killed 129 in 2002.

Experts say the bird strike report and the way the plane attempted to land have raised more questions than answers.

“At this point there are more questions than we have. Why was the plane going so fast? Why weren’t the doors open? to land they didn’t go down?, “said Gregory Alegi, an aviation expert and former teacher. at the Italian air force school.

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 was later leading a team of US investigators to assist South Korean air traffic controllers. Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration were also participating.

‘MY LAST WORDS’

Hours after the crash, family members gathered at the airport, some crying and hugging as Red Cross volunteers handed out blankets.

Most of the victims appear to be locals returning from vacation, officials said.

The family members screamed and cried as the doctor announced the names of the victims selected with their fingers.

One of the relatives got on the loudspeaker to ask for more information from the authorities. He said: “My son has died and I don’t know what is happening.

Hearses lined up outside to collect the bodies, and officials said a makeshift morgue had been set up.

A Ministry of Transport official said the control tower had issued a bird strike warning and shortly after the pilots declared Mayday and tried to land in the opposite direction the plane went in.

One guest texted a relative saying there was a bird stuck to the wing, News1 reported. The person’s last message was, “Should I say my last words?”

Jeon Je-young, the 71-year-old father of a woman on board, played a video of the accident and replayed it.

“When I saw the video of the crash, the plane seemed to be out of control,” Jeon said.

“Maybe the pilots had no choice but to do it. My daughter, who is only in her mid-40s, ended up like this. This is unbelievable,” he said. “He was almost at home.”

The Boeing model involved in the crash, the 737-800, is one of the world’s busiest airliners with a strong overall safety record. It was developed before the MAX model was involved in Boeing’s latest safety crisis.

The plane was manufactured in 2009, the transport department said.

Boeing said in an emailed statement, “We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and are ready to support them. We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and workers.”

The two CFM56-7B26 engines are manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace and France. Saffron (EPA:), the transportation department said.

A CFM spokesperson said, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jeju Air flight 2216. We extend our condolences to the families and loved ones of those on board.”

EXECUTION TO THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE COUNTRY

Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae apologized for the accident, bowing deeply during a television interview.

He said the plane had no accident record and there were no early signs of malfunction. The airline will cooperate with investigators and make supporting the bereaved a priority, Kim said.

No unusual circumstances were reported when the flight took off from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, said Kerati Kijmanawat, president of Airports of Thailand.

The passengers included two Thai nationals and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, according to the transport ministry.

It was the first fatal flight for Jeju Air, a low-cost airline founded in 2005 that is behind Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines as the country’s third largest airline by passenger numbers.

The accident happened just three weeks after Jeju Air started regular flights from Muan to Bangkok and other Asian cities on December 8.

Muan International is one of the smallest airports in South Korea but has become very busy in recent years. All domestic and international flights at the airport were canceled after the accident, Yonhap reported.

Former South Korean President Choi Sang-mok, who called the country’s interim leader on Friday in the ongoing political crisis, arrived at the scene of the accident and said the government is putting all its resources to deal with the crisis. that one.

Two Thai women were on the plane, aged 22 and 45, said Thai government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub.

Thailand’s foreign ministry later confirmed that the two were among those killed. The embassy in Seoul was working with South Koreans and arranging for the family members to leave Thailand, the agency said.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has sent condolences to the families of the dead and injured at X post, saying he has ordered the foreign ministry to provide assistance.