At least 177 people died Sunday in the deadliest plane crash ever in South Korea, when a passenger plane belly-landed and skidded off the runway, exploding into a fireball as it crashed into a wall at Muan International Airport.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, from the Thai capital, Bangkok, with 175 passengers and six crew on board, was attempting to land in the morning at the airport in the south of the country, reported the South Korean Ministry of Transportation.
Two crew members were rescued, and the authorities have declared the last two missing persons dead.
The deadliest plane crash in south korean soil It was also the worst involving a South Korean airline in almost three decades.s, according to the Ministry of Transport.
The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 was seen in local media video skidding down the runway with no visible landing gear. before crashing into the wall in an explosion of flames and debris.
“Only the tail part retains a little shape, and the rest seems almost impossible to recognize”Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun said at a press conference.
The 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 medium to severe injuries, the head of the local public health center said.
Authorities were searching nearby areas for possible bodies thrown from the plane.Lee said.
Researchers are examining the impact of birds and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said. Yonhap news agency quoted airport authorities as saying that a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.
The accident is the worst for a South Korean airline since the Korean Air accident in Guam in 1997, in which more than 200 people died, according to data from the Ministry of Transportation. The previous most serious accident on South Korean soil was the Air China accident, which killed 129 people in 2002.
According to experts, The impact report and the way the plane attempted to land raise more questions than answers.
“A bird strike is not unusual, nor are landing gear problems,” said Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of Airline News. “Bird strikes occur much more often, but they typically do not cause the loss of an aircraft by themselves.”
