SEOUL (Reuters) – At least 28 people died on Sunday after a plane veered off the runway and crashed at South Korea’s Muan International Airport, Yonhap news agency reported.
The accident occurred as the Jeju Air plane carrying 175 passengers and six crew members landed at the airport in the south of the country on a flight from Thailand, the report said.
According to Yonhap, two people were found alive while the rescue mission was still ongoing.
Authorities were working to rescue people in the tail area, an airport official told Reuters.
Photos shared by local media showed smoke and flames engulfing parts of the plane.
Acting President Choi Sung-mok, who was named the country’s interim leader on Friday after the previous incumbent president was impeached amid an ongoing political crisis, ordered a sweeping rescue effort, his office said.
A Jeju Air spokesman said the airline was investigating the reports.
