Fiery plane crash kill at least 177 in worst airline disaster in South Korea

At least 174 people were killed in the deadliest air accident ever in South Korea on Sunday, when an airliner belly-landed and veered off the runway, erupting in a fireball as it slammed into a wall at Muan International Airport.

Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 175 passengers and six crew on board, was attempting to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea's transport ministry said.

 

Two crew members were rescued, and officials have suggested the rest on board are presumed dead.

It is the deadliest air accident ever on South Korean soil, and the worst involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, according to ministry data.

The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 was seen in local media video skidding down the runway with no visible landing gear before crashing into the wall in an explosion of flames and debris.

 

"Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of (the plane) looks almost impossible to recognise," Lee told a press briefing.

 

The two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a briefing. They were being treated at hospitals with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health centre.

 

Investigators are examining bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said. Yonhap news agency cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction. Authorities were searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee said.

'MY LAST WORDS'

Hours after the crash, family members gathered in the airport's arrival area, some crying and hugging as Red Cross volunteers handed out blankets.

 

Families screamed and wept loudly as a medic announced the names of 22 victims identified by their fingerprints. Papers were circulated for families to write down their contact details.

 

One relative stood at a microphone to ask for more information from authorities. "My older brother died and I don’t know what’s going on," he said. "I don’t know."

 

Another asked journalists not to film. "We are not monkeys in a zoo," he said. "We are the bereaved families."

 

Mortuary vehicles lined up outside to take bodies away, and authorities said a temporary morgue had been established.

 

The crash site smelled of aviation fuel and blood, according to Reuters witnesses, and workers in protective suits and masks combed the area while soldiers searched through bushes.

 

Authorities had worked to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official told Reuters shortly after the crash.

 

The crash is the worst for any South Korean airline since a 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that killed more than 200 people, according to transportation ministry data. The previous worst on South Korean soil was an Air China crash that killed 129 in 2002.

 

The control tower issued a bird strike warning and shortly afterward the pilots declared mayday and then pilots attempted to land, a transport ministry official said.

 

A passenger texted a relative to say a bird was stuck in the wing, the News1 agency reported. The person's final message was, "Should I say my last words?"

 

The passengers included two Thai nationals and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, according to the transportation ministry.

 

The aircraft was manufactured in 2009, the transport ministry said.The two CFM56-7B26 engines were manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace (GE.N) and France's Safran (SAF.PA), the transport ministry said.

 

A CFM spokesperson said, "We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jeju Air flight 2216. We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of those on board.”