A passenger plane with 181 people on board yes it is crashed and exploded during an emergency landing at an airport in Muan County, southwest South Korea. The final toll is 179 dead, while two crew members survived.
For a South Korean company, this is the most serious air disaster since the 1997 Korean Air disaster in Guam, in which 225 people lost their lives.
The accident, reports the South Korean agency Yonhap, occurred around 9 in the morning when the Jeju Air plane, with 175 passengers and six crew members on board, went off the runway during landing at the international airport of Muan, South Jeolla Province, about 290 kilometers southwest of Seoul. The plane skidded along the terrain without its landing gear deployed, crashing into a concrete wall before exploding.
Search operations will continue overnight to find the two missing men. «After the plane collided with the wall, the passengers were thrown out of the plane. The chances of survival were extremely low,” said a firefighter. “The plane was almost completely destroyed and it is difficult to identify the victims. We are recovering the remains, which will take time.”
The Boeing 737-800 left Bangkok at 1.30 am and was scheduled to arrive in Muan around 8.30 am. Most of the passengers were Koreans, except for two Thai citizens. Of the people on board, 82 were men and 93 women, aged between three and 78. Most were between 40 and 60 years old. A temporary morgue has been set up inside Muan airport. The two surviving crew members were treated in Mokpo and transported to Seoul: they are not in danger of dying. The failure that prevented the deployment of the trolley, sources cited by Yohap said, was probably due to an impact with a bird. The airport had raised a bird strike alert just six minutes before the crash. A minute later, the pilot of the Jeju Air plane launched the “mayday”.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok declared Muan county a special disaster area, and went to the site to coordinate search operations. Choi also expressed condolences to the victims’ families and promised to offer them all possible government assistance.
During the Angelus, the Pope addressed a thought “to the many families in South Korea who are mourning following the dramatic plane crash”.
Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae apologized and promised to provide all necessary support to the victims’ families. “Regardless of the cause, as CEO I take full responsibility,” he said.