By Ju-min Park, Hongji Kim and Hyunsu Yim
MUAN COUNTY, South Korea-The deadliest air accident ever in South Korea killed 179 people on Sunday, when an airliner belly-landed and skidded off the end of the runway, erupting in a fireball as it slammed into a wall at Muan International Airport.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 175 passengers and six crew on board, was attempting to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea’s transport ministry said.
Two crew members survived and were being treated for injuries.
The deadliest air accident on South Korean soil was also the worst involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, according to the transport ministry.
The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 was seen in local media video skidding down the runway with no visible landing gear before crashing into navigation equipment and a wall in an explosion of flames and debris.
“Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of (the plane) looks almost impossible to recognise,” Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a press briefing.
The two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Lee said.
RELATED: African airlines show interest in partnering with Eswatini Air
They were being treated at hospitals with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health centre.
Authorities combed nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee said.
Investigators are examining bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said. Yonhap news agency cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.
The crash was the worst for any South Korean airline since a 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that killed more than 200 people, according to transportation ministry data.
The previous worst on South Korean soil was an Air China crash that killed 129 in 2002.
Experts said the bird strike report and the way the aircraft attempted to land raised more questions than answers.
“A bird strike is not unusual, problems with an undercarriage are not unusual,” said Airline News editor Geoffrey Thomas.
“Bird strikes happen far more often, but typically they don’t cause the loss of an airplane by themselves.”
Under global aviation rules, South Korea will lead a civil investigation into the crash and automatically involve the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States where the plane was designed and built.
The control tower issued a bird strike warning and shortly afterward the pilots declared mayday and then attempted to land from the opposite direction, a transport ministry official said.
A passenger texted a relative to say a bird was stuck in the wing, the News1 agency reported. The person’s final message was, “Should I say my last words?”
The aircraft was manufactured in 2009, the transport ministry said.
The two CFM56-7B26 engines were manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace (GE.N), and France’s Safran (SAF.PA), the transport ministry said.
RELATED: North Korea balloons, GPS interference raise safety risks for airlines
A CFM spokesperson said, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jeju Air flight 2216. We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of those on board.”
Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae apologised for the accident, bowing deeply during a televised briefing.
He said the aircraft had no record of accidents and there were no early signs of malfunction.
The airline will cooperate with investigators and make supporting the bereaved its top priority, Kim said.
No abnormal conditions were reported when the aircraft left Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, said Kerati Kijmanawat, president of Airports of Thailand.
The passengers included two Thai nationals, and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, according to the transportation ministry.
(Reuters)
