Jeju Air plane crash | 179 of 181 passengers killed; what we know so far

All but two passengers aboard the ill-fated Jeju Air flight, which crashed in South Korea’s Muan on Sunday (December 29), have been declared dead. The two survivors – a male and a female – are crew members who were rescued from the tail portion of the mangled aircraft and have been hospitalised. The death toll has now risen to 179.

About the accident

The incident occurred after a Boeing 737-800 carrying 181 on board skidded off the runway and rammed into a perimeter wall during landing at the runway of Muan International Airport in South Korea on Sunday. The flight was returning from Bangkok in Thailand with 175 passengers and six crew members aboard.

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The crash happened when the aircraft was attempting an emergency landing after an earlier attempt to land failed.

What caused the accident?

While the real reason behind the crash is yet to be determined, local fire officials and aviation experts have attributed it to a landing gear malfunction.

Footage of the crash shows the aircraft attempting a ‘belly landing’ at around 9.03 local time after its landing gear failed to deploy and then crashing into the airport’s perimeter wall before going up in flames.

Initial probe into the accident said a bird strike paired with adverse weather conditions may have forced the pilot to crash land.

“The cause of the accident is presumed to be a bird strike combined with adverse weather conditions. However, the exact cause will be announced following a joint investigation,” Lee Jeong-hyun, chief of Muan fire station said at a press conference after the crash.

‘Pilot made mayday call before crash’

According to reports, the pilot had made a mayday call to the control tower before the crash, warning about birds in the area.

Another report quoting South Korea’s transport ministry said that the control tower had warned the pilot about a bird strike to the plane before the crash.

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Authorities said that during the emergency landing, it seemed the aircraft was unable to reduce its speed to an adequate level and continued to zip beyond the runway till it collided with the perimeter wall, resulting in the fatal crash.

Meanwhile president of Thailand’s main airport operator Airports of Thailand, Kerati Kikmanawat said that the aircraft had reported no abnormalities before taking off from Bangkok and relevant agencies made no complaints of bird hits or obstacles on runway.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has said that a flight and voice recorders recovered from the flight will help in finding the real cause behind the crash.

Deadliest crash in three decades

Calling it one of the worst aviation disasters in South Korea in decades, experts in the field say both Boeing 737-800 and Jeju Air have a strong reputation when it comes to safety.

The last deadly crash occurred in South Korea in 1997 when a Korean Air jet crashed into a hill in Guam in western Pacific, killing 229 of the 254 passengers on board.

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How South Korean govt, Jeju Air have responded?

A week of mourning will be observed in the country’s Jeolla province in memory of the victims of the crash, a provincial official said during a press conference on Sunday.

During the mourning period, flags at government offices will be lowered while civil servants will wear black ribbons.

In a televised news conference, Jeju Air president and CEO Kim E-bae offered his condolences to the bereaved families and said that he takes full responsibility for the tragedy.

“We deeply apologise to all those affected by the incident. We will make every effort to resolve the situation. We sincerely regret the distress caused,” reads a black banner at the top of Jeju Air’s website.

The airline, however, hasn’t put a finger on the reason behind the crash, stating that it is “working to determine the exact cause and details of the situation.”

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In a statement, Boeing has also said that it is in contact with Jeju Air and will support the company in dealing with the incident.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” Boeing said on X.

Earlier in the day, South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok convened an emergency meeting with ministers to discuss the rescue operations.

The ruling People Power party has also formed a task force to probe the incident. Party’s acting leader, Kweon Seong-dong will visit Muan on Monday (December 30) with members of the task force to review “accident response measures and prevention strategies” and meet the bereaved families.

‘Can’t land; should I make a will?’ Passenger’s message before crash

Most passengers aboard the aircraft were reportedly South Koreans while two were Thai nationals.

A three-year old was the youngest passenger on board while a 78-year-old was the oldest, fire officials said citing passenger manifest.

Only 22 of the deceased passengers have been identified so far.

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Soon after the news of the incident broke out, shocked family members crowded the airport, trying to get information about their loved ones, only to be handed over the news of their deaths hours later.

Family of one of the passengers aboard the ill-fated flight said, minutes before the crash, they received a message from the person informing them that a bird was stuck to the plane’s wing.

“A bird struck the wing, and we can’t land,” the person had texted at 9 am via instant messaging app, KakaoTalk.

When the family member asked the passenger for how long the situation has been going on for, the latter replied a minute later, “Just now. Should I make a will?”

It was the last message the family member received from the passenger before the crash occurred at 9.07 am.

Seventy-eight-year-old Maeng Gi-su said his nephew and the latter’s two sons were among the casualties. He said they had gone to Thailand to celebrate the youngest take his college entrance exams.

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“I can’t believe the entire family has just disappeared. My heart aches so much,” Gi-su told BBC.

Many witnesses saw the descending plane crashing and going up in smoke.

"I saw the plane descending and thought it was about to land when I noticed a flash of light...Then there was a loud bang followed by smoke in the air, and then I heard a series of explosions," Yonhap news agency quoted an eyewitness, who was taking a stroll around 4.5 km from the airport as saying.

Another witness said he heard the sound of metal scrapping twice around five minutes before the crash.

Massive rescue operation

In the aftermath of the crash, a large team of 1,570 people including 490 fire department personnel and 455 police officers were deployed to look for survivors and recover bodies from the charred remains of the aircraft.

Lee Jeong-hyun, chief of Muan fire station said at a press conference earlier on Sunday said that the tail section of the plane looked intact, but the rest of it was unrecognisable.

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December: Tough month for aviation

Sunday also saw an Air Canada flight at Canada’s Halifax airport catching fire after skidding off the runway due to malfunctioning of landing gear. While no casualties have been reported so far, the airport was temporarily shut down after the incident.

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The deadly crash in South Korea also comes close on the heels of the Azerbaijan Airlines crash in which 38 of the 67 people on board were killed. Azerbaijain president Ilham Aliyev on Sunday alleged that the plane crashed after being shot by Russia.