ASIATODAY.ID, MUAN – An investigation into the crash of the South Korean commercial plane, Jeju Air, is underway. Until now the cause of the accident has not been ascertained.
Based on information from a number of eyewitnesses, it was revealed that in the deadly accident in Muan, southwest South Korea, on Sunday, December 29 2024, sparks were seen in the plane’s engine and an explosion occurred before the plane made an emergency landing.
The Jeju Air plane went off the runway while landing and crashed into a fence wall at Muan International Airport, South Jeolla Province, about 288 kilometers southwest of Seoul, at 9:07 am local time.
Video broadcast by a local TV station showed the plane trying to land without the landing gear open.
Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was staying at a rental house near the airport, said he saw sparks on the plane’s right wing before the crash.
“I was telling my family that there was a problem with the plane when I heard a loud explosion,” Yoo said.
Another witness, identified only by his last name Cho, said he was walking about 4.5 kilometers from the airport when the accident occurred.
“I saw the plane descending and thought it was about to land when I saw a flash of light,” Cho said.
“Then there was a loud explosion, followed by smoke in the air, then several explosions in succession,” he said again.
Another witness, Kim Yong-cheol, 70, said the plane failed to land on the first try and circled back to try to land before the crash occurred.
Kim recalled hearing a “metal scraping” sound twice about five minutes before the crash.
“I looked up at the sky and saw the plane coming back up after a failed landing, before I heard a ‘loud bang’ and saw ‘black smoke rising into the sky,'” Kim recalled.
Officials suspect landing gear failure, possibly the result of a collision with a bird, was the cause of the crash. Police and fire authorities have initiated investigations at the scene to determine the exact cause of the incident.
122 Passengers Killed, 2 Survived
The Jeju Air plane crash has so far resulted in the deaths of 122 people out of a total of 181 passengers on the plane, including 175 passengers and 6 airline crew. This is the latest report from Yonhap News Agency, Sunday, December 29 2024.
At least 2 people were reported to have survived the crash, namely a passenger and a flight crew member, both of whom were women. Both were rescued shortly after the accident.
Currently the two passengers are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Mokpo. Meanwhile, all the missing people are presumed dead, fire authorities said, adding that they were turning to search operations to find bodies. A temporary mortuary has been set up inside Muan airport to bury the bodies of the victims.
“After the plane hit the wall, the passengers were thrown out of the plane. The chances of survival are very low,” said a fire brigade official.
The official also reported that the plane was almost completely destroyed making it difficult to identify the dead. However, the authorities are currently still in the process of recovering the body.
“We are in the process of evacuating the bodies, which will take time,” he explained.
As previously reported, most of the passengers on the plane returning from Bangkok were Korean citizens, except for two Thai citizens. Video shown by local TV stations showed the plane attempting to land without its landing gear in place. The plane skidded along the ground, crashing into a concrete wall before exploding and catching fire.
Officials believe a landing gear failure, possibly caused by a collision with a bird, may have contributed to the crash. They began an investigation at the location to determine the exact cause. (AT Network)
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