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At least 151 people died on Sunday after a South Korean passenger plane crashed on landing and burst into flames, according to local authorities. This was one of the country’s worst air disasters.
The Jeju Air flight was returning from Bangkok with 181 people on board when it failed to extend its landing gear, slid down the runway before crashing into a wall and catching fire at Muan International Airport in the south of the country.
According to the national fire service, two crew members were rescued from the rear of the plane, but most of the passengers feared their deaths, officials said South KoreaYonhap News Agency. More than 30 trucks and several helicopters were deployed to the disaster.
According to the Ministry of Transport, 173 of the 175 passengers were South Koreans, while the remaining two were Thai nationals. There were another six crew members on board.
South Korea’s incumbent President Choi Sang-mok – who took office on Friday After his predecessor was impeached by Parliament, he promised to “investigate the cause of the accident and take measures to prevent similar accidents from happening again.”
“This is a serious situation. “We will do our best to deal with the damage,” he said at the scene of the accident.
Local television news showed thick smoke rising from the wreckage of the plane, a twin-engine Boeing 737-800.
According to local media, all flights at the airport in South Jeolla Province were canceled. Jeju Air has activated emergency protocols and formed a team to support those grieving.
“We express our deepest condolences to the victims and their families. “We feel a great responsibility and will do our best to find out the exact cause of the accident,” the company’s president, Kim E-bae, said in a televised statement.
An airline spokesman said authorities were working to determine the cause of the crash. In a televised news conference, officials suggested a bird collision and bad weather as possible causes. The Transportation Department also said it would review maintenance records for the 15-year-old plane.
Boeing said it was in contact with the airline regarding the incident.
South Korea has suffered several deadly aviation disasters in the past, although the country’s safety record has improved in recent years. According to the government, there have been 67 accidents involving South Korean airlines in the past decade, resulting in 59 deaths.
In 1983, a Korean Air flight was shot down by the former Soviet Union, killing all 269 people on board. In 1997, another Korean Air flight crashed in Guam, killing 228 of the 254 people on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airlines flight crashed on its way to landing in San Francisco, killing three people and injuring 187.
Sunday’s disaster was the second fatal aircraft accident in recent days. On Wednesday, a passenger flight from Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in Kazakhstan after being diverted from Grozny in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya via the Caspian Sea.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials blame Russian anti-aircraft fire for the accident, which killed 38 of the 67 people on board. Russian authorities said heavy fog and a flock of birds caused the distraction, but also said it happened as Ukrainian combat drones attacked nearby towns.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized He traveled to Azerbaijan on Saturday because of the “tragic incident” but did not comment on the allegations of Russian interference.
