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At least 174 people were killed Sunday morning after a South Korean passenger plane crashed and burst into flames on landing in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters, local authorities said.
A Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people was returning from Bangkok when its landing gear failed to deploy, skidded off the runway, hit a wall, and caught fire at Muan International Airport.
Two crew members were rescued from the tail of the aircraft, but most of the passengers are feared dead, fire authorities told Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. More than 30 trucks and several helicopters have been deployed to the disaster site.
According to the Ministry of Transportation, of the 175 passengers on board, 173 were Korean and the remaining two were Thai. There were six crew members on board the ship.
Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok, who took office Friday after the former president was impeached by the National Assembly, pledged to “thoroughly investigate the cause.” [and] “We will take action to prevent similar accidents from recurring,” he said.
“This is a serious situation. “We will do our best to repair the damage,” he said.
Local television news footage showed thick smoke billowing from the wreckage of the twin-engine Boeing 737-800 jet.
The Department of Transportation said the airport control tower issued a bird strike warning about a minute before the pilots called a mayday. The accident occurred 5 minutes later.
Defense officials said the crash investigation recovered the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recordings. The pilot was a veteran with more than 6,800 hours of flight history.
Muan Airport will be closed until January 1.
Jeju Air, a South Korean low-cost airline founded in 2005, activated emergency protocols. “We express our deepest condolences to the victims and their families. President Kim Lee-bae said, “I feel a great sense of responsibility and will do my best to determine the exact cause of the accident.”
The airline said the 15-year-old plane underwent routine maintenance and no malfunctions were reported when it departed from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Boeing also said it had contacted the airline regarding this incident.
South Korea has suffered several fatal aircraft accidents, although the country’s safety record has improved in recent years. According to government data, domestic airlines suffered 67 accidents over the past 10 years, resulting in 59 deaths.
In 1983, a Korean Air passenger plane was shot down by the former Soviet Union, killing all 269 people on board. In 1997, a Korean Air plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 of the 254 people on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airlines plane crashed while preparing to land in San Francisco, killing three people and injuring 187.
Sunday’s disaster was the second fatal plane crash in recent memory. On Wednesday, an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in Kazakhstan as it diverted from Grozny over the Caspian Sea, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials blamed Russian anti-aircraft fire for the accident. Russian authorities said the diversion was caused by dense fog and flocks of birds, but also said it occurred while Ukrainian combat drones were attacking a nearby city.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to Azerbaijan for the “tragic incident” but did not address allegations of Russian interference.
