A passenger plane burst into flames on Sunday after it veered off the runway of a South Korean airport and crashed into a concrete fence because its front landing gear apparently failed to extend. At least 85 people were killed, officials said, in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.
The National Fire Agency (NFA) said the fire was almost extinguished, but officials were still trying to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people at the airport in the southern city of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south Seoul.
At least 85 people died in the fire, the NFA said. Rescue workers pulled out two crew members – a man and a woman.
It said 32 fire engines and several helicopters were deployed to contain the fire.
Footage of the crash broadcast by television station YTN showed the plane skidding across the runway with the landing gear still closed and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the edge of the facility.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the incident occurred at 9:03 a.m. local time.
Local television stations broadcast footage showing the plane engulfed in flames and thick black smoke billowing from it.
Rescue workers in Muan said they were investigating the cause of the fire and initially said the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned. The transport ministry said the plane was returning from Bangkok and the passengers included two Thai nationals.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed her deep condolences to the families of those affected by the accident in a post on social platform X. Paetongtarn said she had instructed the Foreign Ministry to provide immediate assistance.
It is one of the deadliest disasters in South Korean aviation history. The last time South Korea experienced a major aviation disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board.
The incident occurred as South Korea was embroiled in a huge political crisis triggered by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning declaration of martial law and the subsequent impeachment.
South Korean lawmakers also launched impeachment proceedings on Friday incumbent President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, forcing Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Choi ordered officials to use all available resources to rescue the passengers and crew.
Yoon’s office said his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, would chair an emergency meeting of senior presidential aides later on Sunday to discuss the crash.
