South Korea has vowed thorough investigations to find what caused a plane crash that killed 179 people, saying that it would also inspect all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines.
Sunday’s crash, the nation’s deadliest aviation disaster in decades, has sent a shock wave through South Korean society, which is already facing a political crisis that led to the successive impeachments of the country’s top two officials — President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Han Duk-soo.
What do we know about the survivors?
The survivors, a man and a woman, were among six crew members aboard the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 when it skidded off the runway, crashed into a wall, and burst into flames on Sunday morning. A total of 181 people were onboard, officials said.
Two survivors of the plane crash were recovering in separate hospitals in Seoul on Monday, ABC News reported.
One of the survivors was treated for fractures to his ribs, shoulder blade and upper spine. Ju Woong, director of the Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital who treated him, said the man told doctors he “woke up to find (himself) rescued.”
The passengers were predominantly South Korean, although they included two Thai nationals.
The transport ministry said authorities have identified 146 bodies and are collecting DNA and fingerprint samples from the other 33.
Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 had departed from Bangkok and was making its landing at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea. After an initial failed landing attempt, the Boeing 737-800 plane received a bird strike warning from the ground control centre.
The pilot then issued a distress signal before the plane came down with its front landing gear closed, overshot the runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into a fireball.
Observers say videos of the crash showed the plane was suffering from suspected engine trouble, but the landing gear malfunction was likely the main reason for the crash.
The second survivor, a 25-year-old flight attendant named Koo, was also recovering, though she was not in intensive care, according to hospital staff and officials from the Korean ministry of land, infrastructure, and transport. Both survivors escaped life-threatening injuries, the ministry confirmed, adding that they regained consciousness in the hospital but had no clear memory of events following a loud blast during the landing.
S Korea starts releasing Jeju Air crash victims to families
South Korean authorities began releasing the bodies of plane crash victims to families on Tuesday, as investigators raced to determine why the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crash landed and burst into flames.
US investigators, including from Boeing, arrived at the crash site in southwestern Muan, officials said, as South Korean authorities began assessing two black boxes retrieved from the burned-out wreckage of the aircraft.
(With inputs from agencies)
