SEOUL: As many as 179 people have died and two people were rescued from a plane carrying 181 people that crashed at Muan International Airport in South Korea on Sunday, the Yonhap the news agency reported, citing rescue authorities.
South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, in an emergency meeting on Sunday afternoon, declared a period of national mourning until January 4 over the plane crash.
Authorities cited a bird strike and adverse weather conditions as probable causes of the crash that threw passengers out of the plane and left it “almost completely destroyed,” according to firefighters.
Video showed the Jeju Air plane from Bangkok landing upside down at Muan International Airport, sliding off the runway as smoke billowed from the engines, before crashing into a wall and exploding in flames.
“Passengers were ejected from the plane after it hit the wall, leaving little chance of survival,” a local fire department official told families at a briefing, according to a statement issued by the fire department.
“The plane is almost completely destroyed and identification of the deceased is proving difficult. The process is taking time while we locate and recover the remains,” he said.
A AFP The photographer saw the burned remains of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 plane on the runway in Muan, about 288 kilometers southwest of Seoul, as firefighters and emergency vehicles worked nearby.
The accident took place within minutes at 9:03 a.m. Sunday during the landing of Jeju Air Flight 2216, the Land Ministry said, with 175 passengers, including two Thai nationals, and six crew members on board.
“It took approximately three minutes from the time the control tower mentioned a bird strike warning to the plane attempting to land back on the runway,” he said.
Two minutes before the accident, the pilot issued a mayday call, he added.
When asked if the crash occurred because the runway was too short (the video shows the plane leaving the runway and hitting a wall), the official said this was probably not a factor.
“The runway is 2,800 meters long and aircraft of similar size have been operating on it without problems,” they said.
“It is unlikely that the accident was caused by the length of the runway.”
Muan fire station chief Lee Jeong-hyun said during a briefing that the cause was “presumed to be a bird strike combined with adverse weather conditions.”
“However, the exact cause will be announced after joint investigation,” Lee said.
Low-cost airline Jeju Air apologized and promised to do everything it could to help.
“We sincerely apologize for causing concern,” the airline said in a statement posted on its social media channels.
Boeing said in a statement that it was in contact with Jeju Air and was “ready to support them.”
Reacting to the unfortunate incident, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the loss of lives.
“Deeply saddened to learn of the tragic plane crash at Muan International Airport in Korea that resulted in the loss of so many precious lives. In this hour of grief, our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families and with the people and Government of the Republic of Korea,” the prime minister said in a post on X.
Furthermore, President Asif Ali Zardari also expressed his condolences to the people and government of South Korea and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families, read a press release issued by the President’s Secretariat.
