Authorities in the country assume that all passengers, except for two people rescued, have died in the accident
At least 167 people have died, according to the latest official report, in the plane crash that occurred this Sunday in the southwest of South Korea, where a Jeju Air flight with 181 occupants crashed into a wall during a landing maneuver at Muan International Airport, about 290 kilometers southwest of the capital, Seoul.
The latest report provided by the Fire Service will increase in the next few hours because the authorities consider 179 of the occupants of the aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 from Bangkok (Thailand), dead. Only two people, both crew members, have survived the tremendous impact.
South Korea’s Ministry of Transport has reported that the plane’s crew reported, five minutes before the crash, a collision with a flock of birds that caused damage to the plane, unable to open its landing gear. The plane touched down on its belly at around 09.03 local time, and left the runway until it crashed into the outer wall in a fireball extinguished by firefighters 43 minutes later, with the plane almost completely destroyed. There were 175 passengers and six crew members on board.
“After the plane hit the wall, the passengers were thrown out. The chances of survival are extremely low,” said a fire department official after the previous report was reported, like this last one, by the South Korean state news agency Yonhap.
Most of the dead were in the back of the plane, in which the majority of the passengers – except for two Thais – were of South Korean nationality. The two survivors are being treated at a hospital in Mokpo.
The country’s acting president, Choi Sang Mok, who has travelled to the scene of the accident after ordering the authorities to make “every effort possible” in the rescue operations, has promised that “the Government will spare no effort to support the grieving families.”
For his part, the CEO of the airline Jeju Air, Kim E Bae, has issued a public apology and conveyed his condolences to the families and friends of the deceased, assuming “full responsibility as CEO, regardless of the cause.”
A team of approximately 80 firefighters continues to carry out search and rescue operations. However, given the degree of destruction of the plane, they are finding it difficult to identify the deceased. “We are in the process of recovering the remains, which will take time,” they said.
