A passenger plane from Thailand carrying 181 passengers crashed while landing at Muan International Airport in South Korea. As South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing fire officials, there were likely only two survivors in the accident on Sunday morning (local time).
It is one of the worst plane crashes in years. A total of 173 South Korean and 2 Thai passengers and 6 crew members were on board.
The Boeing 737-8AS of the South Korean low-cost airline Jeju Air, originating from the Thai capital Bangkok, overran the runway shortly after 9 a.m. (local time) and crashed into a security fence behind the runway. A video shown on South Korean television showed the plane skidding down the runway without its landing gear disengaged, crashing near the end of the route and catching fire.
First guess at the cause of the accident
Yonhap, citing authorities, reported that a bird strike – a collision with one or more birds – could have caused the landing gear to malfunction. Accordingly, the pilots made an initial attempt to land but aborted it and then attempted an emergency landing. However, they apparently failed to sufficiently reduce the speed of the aircraft that struck the fuselage before reaching the end of the runway.
Images from a distance initially showed large, dark plumes of smoke above the accident site. Photos published later showed burning wreckage and charred debris from the destroyed plane, as well as fire department trucks. Dozens of rescue workers were deployed to the scene of the accident to extinguish the flames and rescue the surviving passengers. At the same time, an investigation into the cause of the accident was conducted.
All further flights to and from Muan have been cancelled. The airport, which opened in 2007 after ten years of construction, is located in the southwestern province of Jeolla – almost 300 kilometers from the capital Seoul. Western airlines do not fly to the airport.
Airline apologizes
Jeju Air has posted an apology letter online. “We 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 it can to clarify the accident.
In the midst of a state crisis in South Korea, President Choi Sang-mok, acting only in his capacity, ordered extensive rescue measures and went to the accident site.
Source: Krone
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