SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —
A passenger aircraft burst into flames Sunday after it skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport and slammed right into a concrete fence when its entrance touchdown equipment it sounds as if did not deploy. Many of the 181 other people on board died in one of the most nation’s worst aviation failures.
The Jeju Air passenger aircraft crashed whilst touchdown within the the town of Muan, about 290 kilometers south of Seoul. The Shipping Ministry mentioned the aircraft was once a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that was once getting back from Bangkok and that the crash took place at 9:03 a.m.
A minimum of 177 other people — 84 ladies, 82 males and 11 others whose genders were not instantly identifiable — died within the fireplace, the South Korean fireplace company mentioned. Emergency employees pulled two other people, each workforce participants, to protection. Well being officers mentioned they’re aware and now not in life-threatening situation.
Two other people remained lacking about 9 hours after the incident. A number of the 177 our bodies discovered, officers have up to now recognized 57 of them, the hearth company mentioned. The passengers had been predominantly South Korean, in addition to two Thai nationals.
Members of the family of the passengers on a aircraft which burst into flames weep on the Muan World Airport in Muan, South Korea, Dec. 29, 2024.
The fireplace company deployed 32 fireplace vans and a number of other helicopters to comprise the blaze. About 1,570 firefighters, law enforcement officials, infantrymen and different officers had been additionally despatched to the web site, in line with the hearth company and delivery ministry.
Pictures of the crash aired through South Korean tv channels confirmed the Jeju Air aircraft skidding around the airstrip at prime pace, it sounds as if with its touchdown equipment nonetheless closed, overrunning the runway and colliding head-on with a concrete wall at the outskirts of the ability, triggering an explosion. Different native TV stations aired photos appearing thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the aircraft, which was once engulfed in flames.
Lee Jeong-hyeon, leader of the Muan fireplace station, advised a televised briefing that the aircraft was once totally destroyed, with handiest the tail meeting closing recognizable some of the wreckage. Lee mentioned that employees had been having a look into more than a few chances about what brought about the crash, together with whether or not the airplane was once struck through birds, Lee mentioned.
Shipping Ministry officers later mentioned their early evaluation of conversation information display the airport keep an eye on tower issued a hen strike caution to the aircraft in a while sooner than it supposed to land and gave its pilot permission to land in a special house. The pilot despatched out a misery sign in a while sooner than the aircraft went previous the runway and skidded throughout a buffer zone sooner than hitting the wall, the officers mentioned.
A lifestyles jacket hangs on fencing subsequent to the wreckage of an airplane that crashed after it went off the runway at Muan World Airport, in Muan, South Korea, Dec. 29, 2024.
Senior Shipping Ministry professional Joo Jong-wan mentioned employees have retrieved the flight information and cockpit voice recorders of the aircraft’s black field, which can be tested through executive mavens investigating the reason for the crash and fireplace. He mentioned it’ll take months for investigators to finish their probe. The runway on the Muan airport can be closed till January 1, the ministry mentioned.
The Shipping Ministry mentioned the aircraft’s passengers come with two Thai nationals. Thailand’s top minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the households of the ones suffering from the twist of fate in a put up on social platform X. Paetongtarn mentioned she ordered the Ministry of International Affairs to supply help instantly.
Kerati Kijmanawat, the director of Airports of Thailand, showed in a remark that Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 departed from Suvarnabhumi Airport and not using a stories of extraordinary stipulations with the airplane or at the runway.
Jeju Air in a remark expressed its “deep apology” over the crash and mentioned it’ll do its “utmost to regulate the aftermath of the twist of fate.”
In a televised information convention, Kim E-bae, Jeju Air’s president, bowed deeply with different senior corporate officers as he apologized to bereaved households and mentioned he feels “complete accountability” for the incident. Kim mentioned the corporate hadn’t recognized any mechanical issues of the airplane following common checkups and that he would stay up for the result of executive investigations into the reason for the incident.
Members of the family wailed as officers introduced the names of a few sufferers at a living room within the Muan airport.
Boeing mentioned in a remark on X it was once involved with Jeju Air and is able to make stronger the corporate in coping with the crash.
“We lengthen our inner most condolences to the households who misplaced family members, and our ideas stay with the passengers and workforce,” Boeing mentioned.
It is one of the most deadliest failures in South Korea’s aviation historical past. The final time South Korea suffered a large-scale air crisis was once in 1997, when a Korean Airline aircraft crashed in Guam, killing 228 other people on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airways aircraft crash-landed in San Francisco, killing 3 and injuring roughly 200.
Sunday’s twist of fate was once additionally one of the most worst touchdown mishaps since a July 2007 crash that killed all 187 other people on board and 12 others at the floor when an Airbus A320 slid off a slick airstrip in Sao Paulo and collided with a close-by development, in line with information compiled through the Flight Protection Basis, a nonprofit staff geared toward making improvements to air protection. In 2010, 158 other people died when an Air India Categorical airplane overshot a runway in Mangalore, India, and plummeted right into a gorge sooner than erupting into flames, in line with the protection basis.
The incident got here as South Korea is embroiled into an enormous political disaster brought on through President Yoon Suk Yeol’s shocking imposition of martial legislation and resulting impeachment. Remaining Friday, South Korean lawmakers impeached appearing President Han Duck-soo and suspended his tasks, main Deputy High Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.
Choi ordered officers to make use of all to be had assets to rescue the passengers and workforce sooner than he headed to Muan. Yoon’s place of business mentioned his leader secretary, Chung Jin-suk, will preside over an emergency assembly between senior presidential group of workers in a while Sunday to talk about the crash.
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