With only two survivors and at least 151 confirmed deaths out of the 181 people on board a Boeing of the low-cost airline Jeju Air, it is the deadliest air accident in history in South Korea.
What happened?
Jeju Air Flight 2216, arriving from Bangkok with 181 people on board, crashed upon landing at Muan Airport, about 290 kilometers south of the capital Seoul, at 9:03 a.m. local time (12:03 a.m. GMT), according to the Ministry of Territories. He had issued a distress message after a first landing attempt, during which the control tower had warned the crew that the aircraft had been struck by birds.
A video broadcast by South Korean broadcaster MBC shows the plane landing with smoke coming from the engines, apparently without landing gear. The aircraft leaves the runway and is then engulfed in flames.
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Who was on the plane?
It was carrying 175 passengers, including two Thai nationals, as well as six crew members.
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At the end of the afternoon, 124 deaths had been confirmed but the toll continues to rise and the chances of finding other survivors in addition to two crew members extracted shortly after the crash are diminishing.
According to the specialized site Flightradar, the plane, a Boeing 737-8AS from the South Korean low-cost company Jeju Air, entered service in 2009.
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How are relief operations taking place?
Emergency services sent dozens of vehicles and firefighters to the scene. Images broadcast by local television channels showed the plane burned in its entirety except for the tail and the bodies wrapped in blue shrouds being evacuated on stretchers.
Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok chaired an emergency government meeting and visited the site today.
What caused the crash?
“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 after an investigation,” Lee Jeong-hyun, head of the Muan Fire Station, said at a press briefing.
The first elements reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported a “landing gear malfunction”.
According to the same source, the aircraft landed on its belly and burst into flames when it hit a fence at the end of the runway.
What are the dangers of bird collisions?
Bird collisions, which can cause significant damage to an engine or the windshield, are the cause of many accidents.
In most cases, the collision occurs during takeoff or landing, when the engines are running at full speed. Material damage ranges from a simple deformation of the leading edge of the wing to partial or total destruction of the reactor.
One of the most famous cases dates back to January 2009, when the pilot of a US Airways Airbus A320 with 155 occupants managed to calmly land on the Hudson River in New York after such a collision.
What about previous air accidents?
This is the first fatal accident in the history of Jeju Air, founded in 2005.
On August 12, 2007, a Bombardier Q400 from its fleet carrying 74 people went off its runway in strong winds at Busan-Gimhae airport (southeast), causing around ten minor injuries.
The most serious plane accident to take place in South Korea remains the crash on a hill near Busan-Gimhae Airport of an Air China Boeing 767 from Beijing, which killed 129 people. died April 15, 2002.
Before Sunday’s accident, the last fatal accident at a South Korean airline was that of an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 which missed its landing at San Francisco airport, killing three people and injuring 182 on 6 July 2013.
The deadliest disaster for a South Korean company remains that of a Korean Air Boeing 747, connecting New York to Seoul via Anchorage (Alaska), which was shot down by a Soviet fighter over the Sea of Japan, causing the death of 246 passengers and 23 crew members on September 1, 1983.
However, experts believe that the South Korean air transport sector is generally reliable.
