At least 120 people were killed this Sunday, December 29, in the crash of a Jeju Air plane coming from Bangkok, which crashed and caught fire while landing at Muan airport, in the southwest of South Korea, probably following a collision with birds.
A Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people crashed and caught fire on Sunday, December 29, apparently following a collision with birds while landing at Muan airport, in the southwest of the South Korea. An accident which left at least 120 dead according to firefighters.
The plane, a Boeing 737-8AS from Bangkok with 175 passengers, including two Thai nationals, and six crew members, crashed on landing and caught fire, presumably after hitting birds.
“So far, two survivors and 120 dead”the firefighters said in a press release. They had previously clarified that the two survivors extracted from the wreckage of the plane were members of the crew.
According to authorities, the accident of flight JJA-2216 occurred on Sunday at 9:03 a.m. (00:03 GMT). The plane was carrying 181 people (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.said Lee Jeong-hyun, head of the Muan Fire Station, at a press briefing.
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.
Little chance of surviving
“The passengers were ejected from the plane when it collided with a barrier, leaving them with little chance of survival”said a local fire official during a meeting with the victims’ families. “The plane is almost completely destroyed and the identification of the deceased is proving difficult”he added.
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.
Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok chaired an emergency government meeting and is traveling to Muan on Sunday afternoon, his office said. “All agencies concerned (…) must mobilize all available resources to save people”he ordered in a press release.
This is the first fatal accident in the history of Jeju Air, one of South Korea’s largest low-cost airlines, founded in 2005.
Sincere apologies
“Jeju Air will do everything in its power to deal with this accident. We offer our sincere apologies”wrote the company in a press release published Sunday on its social networks.
Plane accidents are very rare in South Korea.
In May 2023, a passenger opened an emergency exit of an Asiana Airlines Airbus A321-200 about to land at Daegu Airport in the southeast of the country. The aircraft was able to land normally, but several people were hospitalized.
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 Boeing 777 which missed its landing at San Francisco airport, killing three people and injuring 182 on July 6. 2013.
The deadliest disaster for a South Korean airline remains that of a Korean Air Boeing 747 flying from 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.
