South Korea’s worst airline disaster claims 179
Footage shows the horror moments a plane belly-landed in South Korea, skidded off the end of the runway and slammed into a wall.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216 erupted into a huge fireball as it crashed into the wall at Muan International Airport in the country’s south.
The death toll was confirmed on Monday (AEDT) to be 179 people, with two crew members miraculously surviving.
The flight from Thailand’s capital Bangkok was carrying 181 people — 175 passengers and six crew — and was attempting to land shortly after 9am Sunday (local time).
The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 was seen in local media video skidding down the runway with no visible landing gear before crashing into navigation equipment and a wall in an explosion of flames and debris.
“Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of (the plane) looks almost impossible to recognise,” Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a press briefing.
Unverified footage circulating online has raised questions about a bird strike. Photo: X
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Investigators are examining bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said.
Yonhap news agency cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.
A passenger had 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?”
Unverified footage also emerged that appeared to show a bird striking the right engine.
Lee said two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane.
They were being treated at hospitals with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health centre.
Authorities combed nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee said.
It was the deadliest air accident on South Korean soil and the worst involving a 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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The previous worst on South Korean soil was an Air China crash that killed 129 in 2002.
Experts said the bird strike report and the way the aircraft attempted to land raised more questions than answers.
“A bird strike is not unusual, problems with an undercarriage are not unusual,” said Airline News editor Geoffrey Thomas.
“Bird strikes happen far more often, but typically they don’t cause the loss of an aeroplane by themselves.”
Firefighters search the wreckage of the Jeju Air aircraft at Muan International Airport in Muan. Photo: AAP
Under global aviation rules, South Korea will lead a civil investigation into the crash and automatically involve the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States where the plane was designed and built.
Hours after the crash, family members gathered in the airport’s arrival area, some crying and hugging as Red Cross volunteers handed out blankets.
Many victims appeared to be residents of nearby areas returning from vacation, officials said.
Families screamed and wept as a medic announced the names of victims identified by their fingerprints. Papers were circulated for families to write down their contact details.
One relative stood at a microphone to ask for more information from authorities. “My older brother died and I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “I don’t know.”
One relative asked journalists not to film, saying: “We are not monkeys in a zoo. We are the bereaved families”.
Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae apologised for the accident, bowing deeply during a televised briefing.
He said the aircraft had no record of accidents and there were no early signs of malfunction. The airline will cooperate with investigators and make supporting the bereaved its top priority, Kim said.
It was the first fatal flight for Jeju Air, a low-cost airline founded in 2005 that ranks behind only Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines in terms of the number of passengers in South Korea.
-with AAP
