179 dead, two survivors The plane crash in South Korea in five points
Firefighters and members of the rescue team work at Muan International Airport. Photo: Maeng Dae-hwan/Newsis/AP/dpa
Image: sda
The authorities have launched an investigation into technical problems, pilot error or weather conditions.
Image: X
A passenger plane crashed while landing at Muan International Airport in South Korea. Photo: Maeng Dae-hwan/Newsis/AP/dpa
Image: sda
The accident at Muan Airport is said to have claimed the lives of 178 people.
Image: Google Earth/dpa
There had previously been talk of three survivors.
Image: X
Pictures of the accident are circulating on social media.
Image: X
Pictures show engine explosion on social media.
Image: x
Firefighters and members of the rescue team work at Muan International Airport. Photo: Maeng Dae-hwan/Newsis/AP/dpa
Image: sda
The authorities have launched an investigation into technical problems, pilot error or weather conditions.
Image: X
A passenger plane crashed while landing at Muan International Airport in South Korea. Photo: Maeng Dae-hwan/Newsis/AP/dpa
Image: sda
The accident at Muan Airport is said to have claimed the lives of 178 people.
Image: Google Earth/dpa
There had previously been talk of three survivors.
Image: X
Pictures of the accident are circulating on social media.
Image: X
Pictures show engine explosion on social media.
Image: x
A Jeju Air plane crashed at Muan Airport in South Korea on Sunday morning, killing all but two of the occupants who were rescued.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- A Jeju Air plane, flight 7C2216, skidded off the runway after landing at Muan International Airport in South Korea and caught fire.
- The plane was coming from Bangkok and firefighters were able to extinguish the fire.
- The authorities have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.
- Two crew members survived the plane crash - a woman and a man.
What happened?
On Sunday morning, at around 9.00 a.m. (local time), an air disaster occurred in South Korea: a Jeju Air passenger plane (flight 7C 2216) crashed on landing at Muan International Airport. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, caught fire and exploded.
The Boeing had 181 people on board, including 175 passengers and six crew members. The plane was flying from Bangkok, Thailand, to Muan.
How many victims are there?
According to the fire department, 179 of the occupants are believed to have died. Among the victims were 71 men and 69 women, while the gender of nine of the deceased could not yet be confirmed because the victims' bodies were so badly disfigured, the agency said.
Who survived?
Two people survived the plane crash. Rescue workers took the two survivors to hospital. They were two crew members - a woman and a man, as reported by "Yonhap News", citing the authorities. It was also reported that one of the two had discovered smoke from one of the engines.
According to "Yonhap News", one of the survivors (33) replied to a doctor's question about where he was in pain: "What happened?" The flight attendant apparently forgot that he had survived an airplane accident.
He is also said to have asked the doctor: "How did I get here?". He was apparently under the impression that the plane had landed normally, but that he somehow couldn't really remember.
The man was at the back of the plane when it crashed. According to initial information, he is said to have broken his left shoulder. He also apparently suffered an injury to his head.
What caused the plane crash?
According to initial findings, the authorities assume that the pilots were unable to extend the landing gear due to a so-called bird strike, which led to the accident. The pilots are said to have aborted an initial landing attempt, as reported by "Yonhap News". Apparently, they then decided to crash land.
According to CNN, the plane initially attempted to land on runway number 1 when the control tower warned that there were birds in the area and an impact was possible. About a minute later, the pilot made a mayday call to the tower.
The control tower then instructed the plane to land in the opposite direction on runway number 19, where the plane crashed into a fence shortly afterwards. According to CNN, the black box has been recovered by the accident investigation commission, but the voice recorder has not yet been recovered.
Pictures taken from a distance initially showed huge dark clouds of smoke over the scene of the accident. Photos published later showed burning wreckage and charred debris from the destroyed plane as well as fire engines from the fire department. Dozens of rescue workers were deployed at the scene of the accident, extinguishing the flames and initiating the rescue of surviving passengers. At the same time, investigations into the cause of the accident were ongoing.
All other flights to and from Muan were canceled. The airport, which was opened in 2007 after ten years of construction, is located in the south-western province of Jeolla - just under 300 kilometers from the capital Seoul. Western airlines do not fly to the airport.
What was the reaction to the airplane accident?
Jeju Air published a letter of apology on the Internet. "We deeply apologize to everyone affected by the incident at Muan Airport," the airline wrote on its website. The company regrets the suffering caused and will do everything in its power to clear up the accident.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok instructed the airline to mobilize "all available resources" for the rescue work. Investigators from the South Korean Accident Investigation Committee have already arrived on site to investigate the cause of the accident.
The disaster hits South Korea in the midst of a deep political crisis. Elected President Yoon Suk Yeol was suspended by parliament two weeks ago after a controversial state of war order plunged the country into chaos. His successor, incumbent President Han Duck-soo, was also impeached on Friday.
The current president, Choi Sang-mok, took office just two days before the disaster. If the Constitutional Court confirms the impeachment proceedings against Yoon, he would be the president with the shortest term in office in South Korea's democratic history. In this case, the country would have to hold new elections within 60 days.
