EGN NEWS DESK
A Jeju Air airplane carrying 181 individuals from Thailand to South Korea’s Muan International Airport crashed on arrival Sunday, veering off the runway, smashing right into a barrier and bursting into flames, leaving all however two dead.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from Bangkok, was making an attempt to land shortly after 9 a.m. on the airport within the south of the nation, South Korea’s transport ministry mentioned. Fire officers mentioned the ultimate dying toll was 179, whereas two had been rescued.
It is the deadliest air accident involving a South Korean airline in practically three a long time, in line with ministry information.
The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 may be seen in a video from native media skidding down the runway with no obvious touchdown gear earlier than slamming right into a wall in an explosion of flame and particles. Other images confirmed smoke and fireplace engulfing elements of the airplane.
Two crew members, a person and a lady, have been rescued from the tail part of the burning airplane, Muan fireplace chief Lee Jung-hyun advised a briefing. The fireplace was extinguished as of 1 p.m. native time, Lee mentioned.
“Only the tail half retains just a little little bit of form, and the remainder of (the airplane) appears nearly unimaginable to acknowledge,” he mentioned.
The two crew members have been being handled on the hospital with medium to extreme accidents, mentioned the pinnacle of the native public well being middle.
Hours after the crash, mortuary autos have been lined as much as take our bodies away, and authorities mentioned a brief morgue had been established.
The crash website smelled of aviation gasoline and blood, in line with witnesses, and staff in protecting fits and masks combed the realm whereas troopers searched by way of bushes.
Authorities had labored to rescue individuals within the tail part, an airport official mentioned shortly after the crash.
The crash is the worst by any South Korean airline since a Korean Air airplane crash in Guam in 1997 that killed greater than 200 individuals, in line with transportation ministry information.
Investigators are trying into chicken strikes and climate situations as doable components, Lee mentioned. Yonhap cited airport authorities as saying a chicken strike might have brought on the touchdown gear to malfunction.
The management tower issued a chicken strike warning and shortly afterward the pilots declared mayday, a transport ministry official mentioned, with out specifying whether or not the flight mentioned it struck any birds.
About one minute after the mayday name, the plane made its ill-fated try and land, the official mentioned.
A passenger texted a relative to say a chicken was caught within the wing, the News1 company reported. The individual’s last message was, “Should I say my final phrases?”
The passengers included two Thai nationals and the remaining have been believed to have been South Koreans, in line with the transportation ministry.
The Boeing 737-800 jet, operated by Jeju Air, was manufactured in 2009, the transport ministry mentioned.
Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae apologized for the accident, bowing deeply throughout a televised briefing.
He mentioned the reason for the crash was nonetheless unknown, that the plane had no report of accidents and there have been no early indicators of malfunction. The airline will cooperate with investigators and make supporting the bereaved its high precedence, Kim mentioned.
Firefighters attempt to extinguish a hearth after an plane crashed on the runaway at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, on Sunday.
| Yonhap / by way of REUTERS
No irregular situations have been reported when the plane left Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, mentioned Kerati Kijmanawat, president of Airports of Thailand.
Founded in 2005, Jeju Air is a low-cost airline that operates worldwide routes to Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines, along with quite a few home flights.
Boeing mentioned in an emailed assertion, “We are in touch with Jeju Air relating to flight 2216 and stand able to help them. We lengthen our deepest condolences to the households who misplaced family members, and our ideas stay with the passengers and crew.”
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
All home and worldwide flights at Muan airport had been canceled, Yonhap reported.
South Korean performing President Choi Sang-mok, named interim chief of the nation on Friday in an ongoing political disaster, arrived on the scene of the accident and mentioned the federal government was placing all its assets into coping with the crash.
Two Thai ladies have been on the airplane, age 22 and 45, Thai authorities spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub mentioned, including that particulars have been nonetheless being verified.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra despatched condolences to the households of the dead and injured in a publish on X, saying she had instructed the overseas ministry to offer help.
The ministry mentioned in a press release it was in contact with the South Korean authorities.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed his condolences over the tragedy suffered by Japan’s neighbor.
“I’m deeply saddened by the painful lack of so many valuable lives because of the tragic airliner accident,” he mentioned in a press release.
“On behalf of the Japanese authorities and folks, I want to specific my deepest condolences to the victims and their bereaved households, and I pray for the speedy restoration of those that have been injured.”
