South Korean plane crash kills 179 as investigation continues

All passengers and most of the crew on board a Jeju Air flight have died after the plane crashed at an airport in South Korea on Sunday.

A total of 179 of the 181 people on board the Boeing 737-800 were killed, and only two – both cabin crew – escaped from the fiery crash.

The plane landed at the Muan International Airport in the south of the country, skidded off the runway and hit a wall when a fire broke out.

Flight 2216 was returning from Bangkok, Thailand with six crew and 175 passengers, most of whom were vacationers.

An investigation into the cause is ongoing – experts and officials point to a number of possible factors.

Distraught families gathered in the arrivals hall of the airport crying, waiting for the bodies to be identified.

Some of those killed were identified only by fingerprints.

Maeng Gi-su, 78, told the BBC that his nephew and two of his nephew’s sons were on the plane.

It was the family’s first trip abroad, to mark the youngest son completing his college entrance exams.

“I can’t believe that the whole family just disappeared,” he said. “My heart hurts so much.”

The passengers included 173 South Koreans and two Thai nationals. They were aged between three and 78, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

Jongluk Doungmanee, 49, was returning to South Korea from visiting family in Thailand. The mother of two lived in South Korea with her husband and worked in agriculture.

In an interview with BBC Thai, her cousin Pornphichaya Chalermsin said “she had only seen such news from other countries and never thought it would involve Thai people”, adding: “Watching the video made me even more depressed.”

Footage of the crash – which happened just after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT) – showed the plane landing without wheels, shooting down the runway and crashing into the airport wall, before bursting into flames.

South Korean transport officials said the plane encountered difficulties on its way to its destination – when the pilot, who had more than 6,800 hours of experience, bailed out on the first attempt due to interference from birds.

Soon after, the pilot issued a mayday call and was allowed to land in a different direction than usual.

Officials have suggested that a bird strike and bad weather may have played a role but aviation experts have questioned whether this was enough to cause such a deadly crash.

One passenger sent a message to a relative saying a bird was stuck in the wing, according to South Korea’s News1 agency – but officials have not yet confirmed whether the plane was hit.

Geoffrey Thomas, editor of Airline News, told the BBC “a lot of things about this tragedy don’t make sense”.

He said South Korea and its airlines were considered “industry leading” and that both the airline and the airline had “an excellent safety record”.

“Right now there are more questions than we have answers,” Gregory Alegi, an aviation journalist and former school teacher in Italy, told Reuters news agency.

“Why was the plane going so fast? Why weren’t the flaps open? Why didn’t the landing gear go down?”

The tragedy is a national tragedy in South Korea, which is facing a political crisis after President Yoon Suk Yeol and his interim successor were both impeached in parliament.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok, who was only elected on Friday, visited the crash site on Sunday.

“I express my deepest condolences to those who died in this incident. I will do everything possible for the injured to recover quickly,” he said.

The Jeju Air crash is the worst for any South Korean airline since the 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam, which killed more than 200 people. Before Sunday, the world’s deadliest in South Korea was the crash of an Air China plane that killed 129 people.

The Muan airport accident also marks the first fatal accident for Jeju Air, one of South Korea’s low-cost airlines, which was established in 2005.

The management of Jeju Air bowed deeply while apologizing to the public at a press conference on Sunday.

“We deeply apologize to all those affected by this incident. We will do everything possible to resolve this situation,” said the firm’s statement.

Boeing, which makes the 737-800 jet, said it was in contact with the airline.