Plane carrying 181 people crashes in South Korea after suspected bird collision – almost all believed dead

A passenger plane carrying 181 people has crashed in South Korea, killing at least 174 people.

Two crew members were rescued, but all others missing are now presumed to have been killed, according to firefighters.

Rescuers attempt to pull people from the wreckage of the plane after it left the runway at Muan International Airport and crashed into a wall, catching fire.

32 fire trucks and several helicopters were deployed to contain the blaze, with about 1,560 firefighters, police, soldiers and other officials dispatched to the scene, according to the fire department.

Live Updates: Plane crash in South Korea

The Boeing 737-800, which was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members, was making a second crash landing attempt after its landing gear failed to open, local media reported.

Authorities say a collision with a bird could be the cause of the malfunction, Yonhap news agency reports.

The airport control tower warned the plane of the bird strike before the crash and gave the pilot permission to land in a different area, according to South Korea’s Transport Ministry.

The pilot sent a distress signal shortly before the plane crossed a buffer zone before hitting the wall, officials said.

Workers have now recovered the flight data recorder from the plane’s black box and are still searching for the voice recording device in the cockpit, said Joo Jong-wan, a senior ministry official. of Transport.

A passenger texted a relative to say a bird was stuck in the wing of the plane, News1 reports.

Their final message would have been: “Should I say my last words?

Just two days ago, a passenger claiming to have traveled on the same plane said its engine stopped as people boarded, according to Sky correspondent in the region, referring to Yonhap News Agency.

A passenger who boarded Jeju Air flight 7C2216 said: “I was on the same plane at that time and the engine cut out several times. »

He said he flew from Muan International Airport to Bangkok and became concerned: “I told the flight attendants and they said there was no problem.”

Other passengers, he claimed, were also worried and the plane was delayed for an hour “due to problems at the airport”.

Weather conditions were also investigated as a suspected cause of the accident.

Most of the passengers on board the Jeju Air plane were vacationers returning from a five-day Christmas trip to Bangkok, according to South Korean news agency Newsis.

Footage broadcast by YTN television showed the moment the plane hit the airport wall and burst into flames, after skidding off the runway without its landing gear deployed.

South Korea’s worst air disaster will pose tough questions for Jeju Air

It is South Korea’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster.

Video from the ground shows the plane exploding in a ball of fire.

A local fire official said the accident was likely caused by a bird strike and weather conditions.

But others have suggested the impact may have been caused by landing gear failure.

Experts said South Korea’s aviation industry has a strong safety record and this was the first fatal accident Jeju Air had experienced since its launch.

At a news conference, the company’s chief executive said the plane that crashed had no record of previous accidents.

He also added that there were no warning signs that the plane was malfunctioning.

He pledged to cooperate with the government to investigate the causes of the accident.

And he can expect tough questions: This is a catastrophic accident and many bereaved families will be searching for answers.

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Other photos shared by local media showed smoke and flames engulfing much of the plane, while witnesses described the crash site as smelling of aviation fuel and blood.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, head of the Muan Fire Station, said rescue teams were searching for bodies scattered by the impact of the crash.

The plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail recognizable among the debris, he added.

Authorities said the fire had been extinguished and South Korea’s Transport Ministry said the incident happened at 9:03 a.m. local time on Sunday (shortly after midnight in the UK).

Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 was returning from Bangkok, Thailand, at the time of the accident.

Authorities are now trying to confirm the identity of the victims using the passenger manifest showing the seats on the plane.

So far, 22 people have been identified, according to the Jeonnam Fire Department.

Among those on board were 173 South Koreans and two Thais, local media reported.

All domestic and international flights departing from Muan International Airport have been canceled.

This incident constitutes one of the deadliest disasters in South Korean aviation history.

The last time the country suffered a large-scale aviation disaster was in 2002, when an Air China plane crashed into a hillside near Busan airport, killing 129 people.