Recovery operation underway after plane crash in South Korea
Only two survivors have been found after a passenger plane, reportedly with malfunctioning landing gear, hit a fence and caught fire in southern South Korea.
It skidded off a runway at Muan International Airport and slammed into a concrete fence in one of South Korea’s worst aviation disasters.
The National Fire Agency said rescuers raced to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people at the airport in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometres south of Seoul.
At least 167 people died in the fire, the agency said.
The transport ministry said the incident happened at 9:03am local time on Sunday.
Emergency workers pulled out two people, both crew members, and local health officials said they remained conscious.
The ministry said it deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire.
The Jeju Air plane was flying back from Bangkok with Korean and Thai passengers. (Reuters: Yonhap)
Footage of the crash aired by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding across the airstrip, apparently with its landing gear still closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the facility.
Other local TV stations aired footage showing thick pillows of black smoke billowing from the plane as it was engulfed with flames.
Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, told a televised briefing that rescue workers were continuing to search for bodies scattered by the crash impact.
The plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognisable among the wreckage, he said.
Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan separately told reporters that government investigators arrived at the site to look into the cause of the crash and fire.
The ministry says the control tower at Muan airport had sent a warning of a bird strike to the plane before the crash happened and was investigating if it caused the landing gear failure.
The transport ministry said the plane was returning from Bangkok and its passengers included two Thai nationals.
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the families of those affected by the accident through a post on social platform X.
Fire engines extinguished the blaze at Muan International Airport. (AP: Maeng Dae-hwan/Newsis)
Ms Paetongtarn said she had ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide assistance immediately.
The last time South Korea suffered a large-scale air disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Air Lines plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board.
In Sunday’s incident, the passengers included two Thai nationals with the rest believed to be South Koreans, according to the transportation ministry.
The plane was a Boeing 737-800 jet operated by Jeju Air, which was seeking details of the accident, including its casualties and cause, an airline spokesperson said.
South Korea’s acting president has called for an all-out effort to be made on rescue operations. (Reuters: Yonhap News Agency)
All domestic and international flights at Muan Airport had been cancelled, Yonhap reported.
The incident came as South Korea was embroiled in a huge political crisis triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning imposition of martial law and ensuing impeachment.
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Last Friday, South Korean politicians impeached Acting President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, making Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok take over.
Mr Choi ordered officials to employ all available resources to rescue the passengers and crew before he headed to Muan.
Mr Yoon’s office said his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, would preside over an emergency meeting between senior presidential staff later to discuss the crash.
Wires
