At least 127 dead in South Korean airliner crash, deadliest air accident in three decades
The death toll from South Korea's deadliest airline crash has climbed to 127, with investigators examining bird strikes and weather conditions as potential factors.
MUAN COUNTY, South Korea – At least 124 people were killed when an airliner landed without wheels, veering off the runway and erupting in a fireball as it slammed into a wall at South Korea’s Muan International Airport on Sunday, the national fire agency said.
Jeju Air 089590.KS flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 181 people on board, was attempting to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea’s transport ministry said.
It is the deadliest air accident involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, according to ministry data.
The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 can be seen in video from local media skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane.
Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was staying at a rental house near the airport, said he saw a spark on the plane’s right wing before the crash.
“I was telling my family there was a problem with the plane when I heard a loud explosion,” Yoo said.
Another witness, identified only by his last name Cho, said he was taking a stroll 4.5 kilometres from the airport when the accident took place.
“I saw the plane descending and thought it was about to land when I noticed a flash of light,” Cho said. “Then there was a loud bang followed by smoke in the air, and then I heard a series of explosions.”
Two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a briefing. The fire was extinguished as of 1 p.m., Lee said.
“Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of (the plane) looks almost impossible to recognise,” he said.
Authorities have switched from rescue to recovery operations, and because of the force of the impact, they are searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee added.
The two crew members were being treated at hospitals with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health centre.
Hours after the crash, mortuary vehicles were lined up to take bodies away, and authorities said a temporary morgue had been established.
The crash site smelt of aviation fuel and blood, according to Reuters witnesses, and workers in protective suits and masks combed the area while soldiers searched through bushes.
Authorities had worked to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official told Reuters shortly after the crash.
The crash is the worst by any South Korean airline since a 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that killed more than 200 people, according to transportation ministry data.
Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said. Yonhap cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.
The control tower issued a bird strike warning, and shortly afterward the pilots declared mayday, a transport ministry official said, without specifying whether the flight said it struck any birds.
About one minute after the mayday call, the aircraft made its ill-fated attempt to land, the official said.
Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae apologised for the accident, bowing deeply during a televised briefing.
He said the cause of the crash was still unknown, that the aircraft had no record of accidents, and there were no early signs of malfunction. The airline will cooperate with investigators and make supporting the bereaved its top priority, Kim said.
Kerati Kijmanawat, the president of Airports of Thailand, said no abnormal conditions were reported when the aircraft left Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The Boeing 737-800 jet, operated by Jeju Air, was manufactured in 2009, the transport ministry said.
In the aftermath of the deadly crash, the U.S. aviation giant Boeing said it is currently “in contact” with Jeju Air Co., according to Yonhap News Agency.
“We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them. We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” Boeing BA. N said in an emailed statement.
