By Ju-min Park, Hongji Kim and Hyunsu Yim
MUAN COUNTY, South Korea (Reuters) -At the very least 124 individuals have been killed when an airliner belly-landed and veered off the runway, erupting in a fireball because it slammed right into a wall at South Korea’s Muan Worldwide Airport on Sunday, the nationwide hearth company stated.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 181 individuals on board, was making an attempt to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) on the airport within the south of the nation, South Korea’s transport ministry stated.
It’s the worst air accident involving a South Korean airline in practically three a long time and on observe to change into the nation’s deadliest ever, in accordance with ministry information.
The dual-engine Boeing (NYSE:) 737-800 might be seen in video from native media skidding down the runway with no obvious touchdown gear earlier than slamming right into a wall in an explosion of flame and particles. Different photographs confirmed smoke and hearth engulfing elements of the aircraft.
Two crew members, a person and a girl, have been rescued from the tail part of the burning aircraft, Muan hearth chief Lee Jung-hyun advised a briefing. The fireplace was extinguished as of 1 p.m., Lee stated.
“Solely the tail half retains a bit of little bit of form, and the remainder of (the aircraft) appears nearly not possible to recognise,” he stated.
Authorities have switched from rescue to restoration operations and due to the power of the impression, are looking out close by areas for our bodies presumably thrown from the aircraft, Lee added.
The 2 crew have been being handled at hospitals with medium to extreme accidents, stated the top of the native public well being centre.
‘MY LAST WORDS’
Hours after the crash, members of the family gathered within the airport’s arrival space, some crying and hugging as Pink Cross volunteers handed out blankets.
Papers have been circulated for households to put in writing down their contact particulars.
One relative stood at a microphone to ask for extra data from authorities. “My older brother died and I don’t know what’s occurring,” he stated. “I don’t know.”
One other requested journalists to not movie. “We aren’t monkeys in a zoo,” he stated. “We’re the bereaved households.”
Mortuary automobiles lined up exterior to take our bodies away, and authorities stated a brief morgue had been established.
The crash web site smelled of aviation gas and blood, in accordance with Reuters witnesses, and employees in protecting fits and masks combed the realm whereas troopers searched by means of bushes.
Authorities had labored to rescue individuals within the tail part, an airport official advised 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 greater than 200 individuals, in accordance with transportation ministry information. The worst on South Korean soil was an Air China (OTC:) crash that killed 129.
Investigators are trying into chicken strikes and climate situations as potential elements, Lee stated. Yonhap cited airport authorities as saying a chicken strike might have precipitated the touchdown gear to malfunction.
The management tower issued a chicken strike warning and shortly afterward the pilots declared mayday, a transport ministry official stated, with out specifying whether or not the flight stated it struck any birds.
About one minute after the mayday name the plane made its ill-fated try and land, the official stated.
A passenger texted a relative to say a chicken was caught within the wing, the News1 company reported. The particular person’s remaining message was, “Ought to I say my final phrases?”
The passengers included two Thai nationals and the remaining are believed to be South Koreans, in accordance with the transportation ministry.
JEJU AIR SAYS BEREAVED ARE TOP PRIORITY
The Boeing 737-800 jet, operated by Jeju Air, was manufactured in 2009, the transport ministry stated.
Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae apologised for the accident, bowing deeply throughout a televised briefing.
He stated the reason for the crash was nonetheless unknown, that the plane had no file of accidents and there have been no early indicators of malfunction. The airline will cooperate with investigators and make supporting the bereaved its prime precedence, Kim stated.
No irregular situations have been reported when the plane left Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, stated Kerati Kijmanawat, president of Airports of Thailand.
Based in 2005, Jeju Air is a low-cost airline that operates worldwide routes to Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines, along with quite a few home flights.
Boeing stated in a emailed assertion, “We’re in touch with Jeju Air concerning flight 2216 and stand able to help them. We prolong our deepest condolences to the households who misplaced family members, and our ideas stay with the passengers and crew.”
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
All home and worldwide flights at Muan airport had been cancelled, Yonhap reported.
South Korean performing President Choi Sang-mok, named interim chief of the nation on Friday in an ongoing political disaster, arrived on the scene of the accident and stated the federal government was placing all its sources into coping with the crash.
Two Thai ladies have been on the aircraft, aged 22 and 45, Thai authorities spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub stated, including that particulars have been nonetheless being verified.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra despatched condolences to the households of the useless and injured in a put up on X, saying she had instructed the international ministry to offer help.
The ministry stated in a press release it was in contact with the South Korean authorities.
