Flags are flying at half-mast in South Korea on Monday to honor the 179 people killed in the worst plane crash ever on its soil, with an investigation underway to determine the cause of the tragedy.
A video of the crash that occurred on Sunday morning, December 29, 2024, broadcast by local channel MBC, has gone viral: it shows a plane landing on its belly at Muan airport (southwest) with smoke coming out of its engines, before hitting a wall at the end of the runway and being engulfed in flames.
The Boeing 737-800 of the South Korean low-cost airline Jeju Air, arriving from Bangkok, was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members. All of the passengers were killed, according to the final toll from rescuers, with the exception of a flight attendant and a steward.
Those on board, two Thai nationals and the rest South Korean citizens, ranged in age from three to 78.
Ceremony
The identities of 141 of the 179 dead have been confirmed so far, the Ministry of Lands cited investigators as saying Monday.
The country has declared a seven-day national mourning and flags have been flown at half-mast, as interim President Choi Sang-mok visits the scene of the tragedy for a memorial ceremony. Others are planned elsewhere in South Korea.
“Special inspections”
Seoul is considering options for launching “special inspections” of its 101 Boeing 737-800s operating in the country, Joo Jong-wan, an aviation official at the Ministry of Transport, told reporters.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000The suspected cause of the crash was a bird strike, which is a common fear among pilots, especially jets whose engines can quickly lose power or stop completely after sucking in a bird, according to authorities.
“I had a son on board”
In Muan on Monday morning, a middle-aged man and woman peer through the gates at the crash site, where seats, doors and twisted metal are still scattered on the tarmac.
“I had a son on that plane,” an elderly man waiting at the airport told AFP, explaining that his body had still not been identified. Relatives of victims have camped here.
Despite the authorities' claim, criticism is increasingly focusing on the airport's architecture.
“Despite the emergency, the landing was remarkably well executed,”, said Kim Kwang-il, a professor of aeronautical science at Silla University and a former pilot.
Black boxes found
But “normally, there is no such solid obstacle at the end of the runway, which is against international aviation safety standards recommended by (…) the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (AUESA). The structure in question caused the plane to crash and catch fire”, he claims.
In terms of the investigation, the black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were found on Sunday.
The US National Transportation Safety Administration said on X that it had put together “a team of American investigators”, including Boeing, to “assist” the South Korean authorities.
Same model, new incident
On Monday morning, another Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 suffered a landing gear malfunction, already implicated on Sunday, and was forced to return to Gimpo Airport (northwest) shortly after takeoff, the state-run Yonhap news agency reported.
A Jeju Air representative confirmed to AFP that the airline was investigating the “cause” of the incident, but could not say whether it was caused by the landing gear at this stage.
“Sincere apologies”
The Muan crash is the first fatal accident for Jeju Air, which has offered its “sincere apologies.”
The airline industry South Korea is considered generally reliable by experts, such tragedies being very rare.
The deadliest accident to have occurred in South Korea until now was the crash on a hill near Busan-Gimhae airport of an Air China Boeing 767 from Beijing, which killed 129 people on April 15, 2002.