At least 120 people were killed after a passenger plane veered off a runway at a South Korean airport on Sunday and rammed into a concrete wall, marking one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.
Preliminary reports suggest the Jeju Air passenger plane’s front landing gear failed to deploy as the plane with 181 people aboard was seen skidding across the airstrip with its landing gear closed at the Muan airport, 290km south of the capital Seoul.
South Korea’s national fire agency says 120 people have been confirmed dead, including 57 women, 54 men and nine others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable. Initial reports suggested that at least 96 people died in the fire, reported the fire agency. It said the fire at the site of the plane collision was almost doused but the emergency team was still trying to rescue people from inside the plane.
A passenger and one crew member were rescued from the tail of the plane and are reported to have sustained mid to severe level injuries. The agency said it has deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire.
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Visuals of the crash showed the plane landing on its belly, leaving a trail of grey smoke as the landing gear remained shut. The plane, engulfed in thick pillows of black smoke, collided head-on with a concrete wall at the end of the strip.
Rescue workers are continuing to search for bodies scattered by the crash impact, Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station said at a briefing. The plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognisable among the wreckage, he said.
The official added that workers were looking into various possibilities about what caused the crash, including whether the aircraft, a Boeing-made737-800, was struck by birds that caused mechanical problems.
The time of the crash was confirmed as 9.03am local time, the transport ministry said.
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.
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Emergency officials have said they are examining the cause of the fire as initial signs showed the plane’s landing gear likely malfunctioned. Government investigators arrived at the site to investigate the cause of the crash and fire, senior transport ministry official Joo Jong-wan separately told reporters.
Officials from the Jeju Air carrier expressed “deep apology” over the crash and said it will do its “utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident.”
The carrier’s president Kim E-Bae deeply bowed with other senior company officials as he apologised to the bereaved families, stating that he feels “full responsibility” for the incident.
He mentioned that the company had not seen any mechanical problems in the aircraft following regular checkups and that he would wait for the results of government investigations into the cause of the incident.
Boeing also joined Jeju Air in dealing with the crash. “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,” it said in a statement.
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The plane was returning from Bangkok and included two Thai nationals, officials from the transport ministry said.
This marks one of the deadliest aviation disasters in South Korea and a large-scale air disaster after 1997 when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing all 228 people on board.
Thailand’s prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed deep condolences to the families of those affected by the accident and said she had ordered the ministry of foreign affairs to provide assistance immediately.
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