According to the authorities, the accident occurred on Sunday at 9:03 a.m. (1:03 a.m. Brussels time). The plane was carrying 175 passengers, including two Thai nationals, and six crew members, between Bangkok and Muan, a city located about 290 kilometers south of the capital Seoul.
“The cause of the accident is presumed to be a collision with birds combined with adverse weather conditions. However, the exact cause will be announced following an investigation.“, Lee Jeong-hyun, head of the Muan Fire Station, said at a press briefing. According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, “contact with birds“dragged”landing gear malfunction.“The plane landed on its belly and caught fire when it hit a fence at the end of the runway,” she added.
A video broadcast by local channel MBC shows the aircraft – a Boeing 737-8AS which entered service in 2009, according to the specialist site Flightradar – landing with smoke escaping from the engines. The plane then appeared to hit an obstacle at the end of the runway and was immediately engulfed in flames.
Images broadcast by South Korean television channels show numerous emergency service vehicles and dozens of firefighters working around the carcass of the plane, completely charred except for the tail, and evacuating on stretchers of bodies wrapped in blue shrouds.
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