The deadliest air accident ever in South Korea killed 179 folks on Sunday, when an airliner belly-landed and skidded off the top of the runway, erupting in a fireball because it slammed right into a wall at Muan Worldwide Airport.
Jeju Air 089590.KS flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 175 passengers and 6 crew on board, was making an attempt to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) on the airport within the south of the nation, South Korea’s transport ministry mentioned.
Two crew members survived and had been being handled for accidents.
The deadliest air accident on South Korean soil was additionally the worst involving a South Korean airline in almost three a long time, the transport ministry mentioned.
The dual-engine Boeing 737-800 was seen in native media video skidding down the runway with no seen touchdown gear earlier than crashing into navigation tools and a wall in an explosion of flames and particles.
“Solely the tail half retains just a little little bit of form, and the remainder of (the airplane) seems nearly inconceivable to acknowledge,” Muan hearth chief Lee Jung-hyun instructed a press briefing.
The 2 crew members, a person and a lady, had been rescued from the tail part of the burning airplane, Lee mentioned. They had been being handled at hospitals with medium to extreme accidents, mentioned the pinnacle of the native public well being middle.
Investigators are inspecting chook strikes and climate circumstances as potential elements, Lee mentioned. Yonhap information company cited airport authorities as saying such a strike could have induced the touchdown gear to malfunction.
The crash was the worst for any South Korean airline since a 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that killed greater than 200 folks, transportation ministry information confirmed. The earlier worst on South Korean soil was an Air China crash that killed 129 in 2002.
Consultants mentioned the chook strike report and the best way the plane tried to land raised more questions than solutions.
“At this level there are much more questions than now we have solutions. Why was the airplane going so quick? Why had been the flaps not open? Why was the touchdown gear not down?,” mentioned Gregory Alegi, an aviation knowledgeable and former trainer at Italy’s air power academy.
Below world aviation guidelines, South Korea will lead a civil investigation into the crash and routinely contain the Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) in the US the place the airplane was designed and constructed.
The NTSB mentioned later it was main a team of U.S. investigators to assist South Korea’s aviation authority. Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration had been additionally collaborating.
‘MY LAST WORDS’
Hours after the crash, members of the family gathered within the airport’s arrival space, some crying and hugging as Purple Cross volunteers handed out blankets.
Many victims seemed to be residents of close by areas getting back from trip, officers mentioned.
Members of the family screamed and wept as a medic introduced the names of victims recognized by their fingerprints.
One relative stood at a microphone to ask for extra info from authorities. “My older brother died and I don’t know what’s occurring,” he mentioned.
Mortuary autos lined up outdoors to take our bodies away, and authorities mentioned a brief morgue had been established.
A transport ministry official mentioned the management tower had issued a chook strike warning and shortly after the pilots declared mayday after which tried to land from the wrong way the airplane had are available.
A passenger texted a relative to say a chook was caught within the wing, the News1 company reported. The particular person’s closing message was, “Ought to I say my final phrases?”
Jeon Je-young, the 71-year-old father of 1 lady on board, performed and replayed a video of the crash.
“After I noticed the accident video, the airplane appeared uncontrolled,” said Jeon.
“The pilots most likely had no selection however to do it. My daughter, who is barely in her mid-40s, ended up like this. That is unbelievable,” he mentioned. “She was nearly dwelling.”
The Boeing mannequin concerned within the crash, a 737-800, is among the world’s most flown airliners with a typically robust security document. It was developed properly earlier than the MAX variant concerned in a current Boeing security disaster.
The plane was manufactured in 2009, the transport ministry mentioned.
Boeing mentioned in a emailed assertion, “We’re involved with Jeju Air relating to flight 2216 and stand able to help them. We prolong our deepest condolences to the households who misplaced family members, and our ideas stay with the passengers and crew.”
The 2 CFM56-7B26 engines had been manufactured by CFM Worldwide, a three way partnership between GE Aerospace GE.N and France’s Safran SAF.PA, the transport ministry mentioned.
A CFM spokesperson mentioned, “We’re deeply saddened by the lack of Jeju Air flight 2216. We prolong our heartfelt sympathies to the households and family members of these on board.”
CHALLENGE TO COUNTRY’S NEW INTERIM PRESIDENT
Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae apologized for the accident, bowing deeply throughout a televised briefing.
He mentioned the plane had no document 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.
No irregular circumstances had been reported when the plane left Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, mentioned Kerati Kijmanawat, president of Airports of Thailand.
The passengers included two Thai nationals and the remaining are believed to be South Koreans, in response to the transportation ministry.
It was the primary deadly flight for Jeju Air, a low-cost airline based in 2005 that ranks behind Korean Air Traces 003490.KS and Asiana Airways because the nation’s third largest provider by passenger numbers.
The accident occurred solely three weeks after Jeju Air began common flights from Muan to Bangkok and different Asian cities on Dec. 8.
Muan Worldwide is one in every of South Korea’s smallest airports nevertheless it has grow to be a lot busier lately. All home and worldwide flights on the airport had been canceled after the accident, Yonhap reported.
South Korean appearing 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 girls had been on the airplane, aged 22 and 45, Thai authorities spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub mentioned.
The Thai international ministry later confirmed each had been amongst these killed. The embassy in Seoul was coordinating with the South Koreans and arranging for members of the family to journey from Thailand, the ministry mentioned in an announcement.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra despatched condolences to the households of the useless and injured in a publish on X, saying she had instructed the international ministry to supply help.
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(Reporting by Hongji Kim and Ju-min Park in Muan, Hyunsu Yim, Cynthia Kim and Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul; Further reporting by David Brunnstrom and Gram Slattery in Washington, Panu Wongcha-um and Chayut Setboonsarng in Bangkok and Lisa Barrington; Writing by Josh SmithEditing by Jonathan Oatis, William Mallard, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Frances Kerry and Gareth Jones)
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