The accident of flight JJA-2216 occurred at 9:03 a.m. local time (00:03 GMT) on Sunday. The plane, a Boeing 737-8AS, was carrying 181 people, including six crew members, between the Thai capital Bangkok and Muan, located about 290 kilometers south of Seoul.
“So far, two survivors and 120 dead,” firefighters said in a statement. They had previously clarified that the two survivors extracted from the wreckage of the plane were members of the crew.
“The cause of the accident is suspected to be a collision with birds combined with unfavorable weather conditions. However, the exact cause will be announced after an investigation,” said Lee Jeong-hyun, head of the fire brigade. Muan, during a press briefing.
“The passengers were ejected from the plane when it collided with a barrier, leaving them with little chance of survival,” a local fire official said during a meeting with the victims’ families.
“The plane is almost completely destroyed and the identification of the deceased is proving difficult,” he added.
A video broadcast by local channel MBC shows the plane landing with smoke escaping from the engines, before hitting a wall at the end of the runway and being engulfed in flames.
Images broadcast by Korean television channels show numerous emergency service vehicles and dozens of firefighters working around the completely charred wreckage of the plane, with the exception of the tail, and evacuating people on stretchers. bodies wrapped in blue shrouds.
This is the first fatal accident in the history of Jeju Air, one of Korea’s largest low-cost airlines, founded in 2005.
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