By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A jetliner skidded off a runway, slammed right into a concrete fence and burst into flames Sunday in South Korea after its touchdown gear apparently did not deploy. All however two of the 181 folks on board had been killed in one of many nation’s worst aviation disasters, officers mentioned.
The 737-800 operated by Jeju Air airplane arrived from Bangkok and crashed whereas trying to land within the city of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul.
Footage of the crash aired by South Korean tv channels confirmed the airplane skidding throughout the airstrip at excessive velocity, evidently with its touchdown gear nonetheless closed, and slamming right into a concrete wall, triggering an explosion. Different TV stations aired footage displaying thick, black smoke billowing from the airplane, which was engulfed in flames.
The crash killed 179 folks, the South Korean fireplace company mentioned. Emergency employees pulled two crew members, to security. They had been acutely aware and didn’t seem to have any life-threatening accidents, well being officers mentioned.
Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fireplace station, instructed a televised briefing that the airplane was fully destroyed, with solely the tail meeting nonetheless recognizable within the wreckage. Officers had been investigating the reason for the crash, together with whether or not the plane was struck by birds, Lee mentioned.
The management tower issued a warning about birds to the airplane shortly earlier than it meant to land and gave the crew permission to land in a unique space, ministry officers mentioned. The crew despatched out a misery sign shortly earlier than the crash, officers mentioned.
Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan mentioned employees retrieved the jet’s flight knowledge and cockpit voice recorders. He mentioned it could take months for investigators to finish their probe. The runway on the Muan airport will likely be closed till Jan. 1, the ministry mentioned.
Kyle Bailey, former FAA security crew consultant within the U.S., instructed Fox Information that it appeared to him that the plane was touring too quick because it skidded on the the runway earlier than putting what he believed was a construction that housed instrument touchdown tools.
“I feel that’s just about what spelled catastrophe for that airplane,” he mentioned.
One of many survivors was being handled for fractures to his ribs, shoulder blade and higher backbone, mentioned Ju Woong, director of the Ewha Womans College Seoul Hospital. Ju mentioned the person, whose title was not launched, instructed docs he “woke as much as discover (himself) rescued.” Particulars on the opposite survivor weren’t instantly accessible.
The passengers had been predominantly South Korean and included two folks from Thailand. Officers recognized 88 of them within the hours after the crash, the fireplace company mentioned.
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed condolences to the households of these aboard the airplane in a submit on X. Paetongtarn mentioned she ordered the Ministry of International Affairs to supply help.
Boonchuay Duangmanee, the daddy of a Thai passenger, instructed The Related Press that his daughter, Jongluk, had been working in a manufacturing facility in South Korea for a number of years and returned to Thailand to go to her household.
“I by no means thought that this could be the final time we’d see one another perpetually,” he mentioned.
Kerati Kijmanawat, the director of Thailand’s airports, confirmed in an announcement that Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 departed from Suvarnabhumi Airport with no studies of something irregular aboard the plane or on the runway.
Jeju Air in an announcement expressed its “deep apology” over the crash and mentioned it is going to do its “utmost to handle the aftermath of the accident.”
In a televised information convention, the corporate’s president, Kim E-bae, bowed deeply with different senior firm officers as he apologized to bereaved households and mentioned he feels “full duty” for the crash. Kim mentioned the corporate had not recognized any mechanical issues with the plane following common checkups and that he would look forward to the outcomes of presidency investigations into the reason for the incident.
Relations wailed as officers introduced the names of some victims at a lounge within the Muan airport.
Boeing mentioned in an announcement on X that it was involved with Jeju Air and was able to assist the corporate in coping with the crash.
The crash occurred as South Korea is embroiled in a political disaster triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s beautiful imposition of martial legislation and ensuing impeachment. South Korean lawmakers on Friday impeached appearing President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, main Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.
Choi, who traveled to the positioning in Muan, referred to as for officers to make use of all accessible assets to establish the useless as quickly as potential. The federal government declared Muan a particular catastrophe zone and designated a weeklong nationwide mourning interval.
Yoon’s workplace mentioned his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, presided over an emergency assembly between senior presidential employees to debate the crash and reported the small print to Choi. Yoon expressed condolences to the victims in a Fb posting.
In Rome’s St. Peter’s Sq., Pope Francis mentioned he joined in “prayer for the survivors and the useless.”
The Muan crash is likely one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation historical past. The final time South Korea suffered a large-scale air catastrophe was in 1997, when a Korean Airline airplane crashed in Guam, killing 228 folks on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airways airplane crash-landed in San Francisco, killing three and injuring about 200.
Sunday’s accident was additionally one of many worst touchdown mishaps since a July 2007 crash that killed all 187 folks on board and 12 others on the bottom when an Airbus A320 slid off a slick airstrip in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and hit a close-by constructing, in keeping with knowledge compiled by the Flight Security Basis, a nonprofit group aimed toward bettering air security.
In 2010, 158 folks died when an Air India Specific plane overshot a runway in Mangalore, India, and plummeted right into a gorge earlier than erupting into flames, in keeping with the security basis.
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Related Press journalists Bobby Caina Calvan in New York, Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul and Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.
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