Dozens died when a passenger plane crashed while landing at a South Korean airport

A passenger jet burst into flames Sunday after it skidded off the runway at a South Korean airport and crashed into a concrete fence when its front landing gear failed to descend, killing at least 62 people, officials said, in one of the country’s worst crashes. disasters.

The National Fire Agency said the fire was almost out but officials were still trying to pull people from the Jeju Air flight carrying 181 people at the airport in the city of Muan, 180 miles south of Seoul.

At least 62 people – 37 women and 25 men – died in the fire, the agency said. Emergency crews extricated two people – one passenger and a crew member. It said it deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire.

South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that there were believed to be 173 South Korean passengers on board the plane along with two Thais. There were also six crew members on board, Reuters reported.

Footage of the accident broadcast by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding off the runway, its landing gear apparently still closed, and crashing head-on into a concrete wall at the edge of the facility. The Department of Transportation said the incident happened at 9:03 am local time. Local TV stations broadcast images showing thick pillows of black smoke billowing from the plane engulfed in flames.

Emergency services in Muan said they are investigating the cause of the fire. They said the plane’s navigation equipment appeared to be malfunctioning. The Ministry of Transport said the plane was returning from Bangkok.

The prime minister of Thailand, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed his condolences to the families of those affected by the accident on social media. Paetongtarn said he has ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide assistance immediately.

According to Reuters, the acting president of South Korea, Choi Sang-mok, has ordered a full response, his office said. Choi He was acting president on Fridayreplaced the previous acting president, Han Duck-soo, following Han’s impeachment. All this comes after the government problems caused by the Dec. 3 declaration of martial law from former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was also impeached.

This is one of the worst disasters in South Korean aviation history. The last time South Korea suffered a major aviation disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people.

This comes after 38 people died and 29 others were injured Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny crashes in Aktau, Kazakhstan on Christmas Day. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an apology due to the crash, and the Kremlin said in a statement that air defense systems were firing near Grozny airport as the plane “repeatedly” tried to land there. However, it did not clearly state that one of these hit the plane.

A US official told CBS News there were early signs a Russian anti-aircraft system may have shot down a plane in an area where Ukrainian and Russian forces have traded drone and rocket fire for months.