EPAMore than 170 people have died since then. The plane crashed while landing in Korea On Sunday morning.
A Jeju Air plane left the runway and crashed into the wall of Muan International Airport in the southwest.
There were 181 people on the plane returning from Bangkok, Thailand, of which 179 died and two crew members were rescued from the wreckage.
Fire authorities believe the accident was caused by bird collisions and bad weather and are investigating the cause of the accident. But experts warned that the crash could have been caused by multiple factors.
Was bird strike a factor in the accident?
getty imagesFlight 7C2216 was a Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air, Korea’s most popular low-cost airline.
The plane arrived in Muan around 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT).
South Korean transportation officials said the plane attempted to land but was forced to hold off after air traffic control issued a bird strike warning, a warning about the risk of collisions with birds.
About two minutes later, the pilot issued a mayday signal and Air Traffic Command cleared the plane to land from the opposite direction, officials said.
One video appears to show the plane landing without using wheels or other landing gear. It skidded off the runway, hit a wall, and burst into flames.
One witness told South Korean news agency Yonhap News that there was a “loud roar” followed by “successive explosions.”
Video from the scene shows the plane soaring into the sky with smoke. Firefighters later extinguished the fire.
Muan Fire Department Chief Lee Jeong-hyeon said in a broadcast briefing that day, “The tail of the plane can be identified, but the shape of the rest of the plane is unrecognizable.”
He said bird strikes and bad weather may have contributed to the crash, but the exact cause was still under investigation. The plane’s plane and voice recorder were recovered, but Yonhap News Agency reported that the former was damaged.
A passenger on the plane sent a message to a relative saying a bird had become stuck on a wing and the plane could not land, local media reported.
However, officials have not confirmed whether the plane actually struck the bird.
Jeju Air executives said the crash was not caused by “any maintenance issues,” Yonhap News reported.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the aircraft’s chief pilot had been in his position since 2019 and had more than 6,800 hours of flight experience.
Geoffrey Thomas, aviation expert and editor of Airline News, told the BBC that South Korea and its airlines are considered “industry best practices” and that both the aircraft and the airline have “excellent safety records”.
He added: “Many things about this tragedy don’t make sense.”
EPAWhat is a bird strike?
A bird strike is a collision between a flying airplane and a bird. This is very common. More than 1,400 bird strikes were reported in the UK in 2022, of which only around 100 involved aircraft. Data from the Civil Aviation Authority.
The most well-known bird strike occurred in 2009. An Airbus plane made an emergency landing on the Hudson River in New York. After colliding with a flock of geese. All 155 passengers and crew survived.
Professor Doug Drury, who teaches aviation at CQUniversity Australia, wrote in the article: conversation This summer’s Boeing aircraft is equipped with turbofan engines that could cause serious damage if they collide with birds.
He said pilots are trained to be especially alert in the early morning or at sunset when the birds are most active.
However, some aviation experts are skeptical that the Muan Airport crash was due to a bird strike.
“Generally speaking, bird strikes do not result in the loss of an airplane,” Mr Thomas told Reuters.
Australian aviation safety expert Geoffrey Dell also told the news agency: “I’ve never seen a landing gear fail to extend due to a bird strike.”
Who was on board?
There were 175 passengers and 6 crew members on the plane. Two of the passengers were believed to be Thai and the rest were South Korean, authorities said. Many people are thought to have returned from their Christmas holidays in Thailand.
The official death toll was 179, making it the deadliest plane crash in South Korean history.
All four passengers and crew died.
Authorities have so far identified at least 88 bodies.
Five of the dead were children under 10 years of age. The youngest passenger was a 3-year-old boy and the oldest was 78 years old, authorities said, citing passenger lists.
The National Fire Agency said two crew members, a male and a female, survived the crash. They said they were found in the tail of the aircraft after the crash and taken to the hospital.
More than 1,500 emergency personnel have been deployed as part of the recovery effort, including 490 firefighters and 455 police officers. They are searching parts of the plane and the people on board around the runway.
EPAWhat was the reaction like?
Acting President Choi Sang-mok declared Muan-gun a special disaster area, allowing local governments and victims to access central government funds.
All flights to and from Muan International Airport have been cancelled.
Families of crash victims are traveling to the airport to find out what happened to their relatives. Video released by Reuters shows officials reading the victims’ names aloud.
getty imagesAirport authorities and the Red Cross set up more than a dozen tents at the airport to allow families to mourn privately.
A cry rang out beyond the terminal. Some people feel frustrated because it takes so long to identify the body.
Jeju Air apologized to the bereaved family. The CEO said at a press conference that the airline had no history of accidents. Sunday’s crash is believed to be the only fatal accident since the airline launched in 2005.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing expressed condolences to those affected.
Acting President Choi said, “I express my deepest condolences to the many victims of this incident,” and added, “I will do my best to ensure a speedy recovery for the injured.”
The government has declared a period of national mourning for the next seven days, during which national flags will be flown at half-mast at government buildings.
