SEOUL, South Korea — A passenger aircraft burst into flames Sunday after it skid off a runway at a South Korean airport and slammed right into a concrete fence when its entrance touchdown gear apparently did not deploy, killing not less than 85 folks, officers stated, in one of many nation’s worst aviation disasters.
The Nationwide Hearth Company stated rescuers raced to drag folks from the Jeju Air passenger aircraft carrying 181 folks on the airport within the city of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry recognized the aircraft as a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet and stated the crash occurred at 9:03 a.m. native time.
At the least 85 folks – 46 ladies and 39 males – died within the fireplace, the company stated. Emergency employees pulled out two folks, each crew members, and native well being officers stated they continue to be acutely aware. It stated it deployed 32 fireplace vans and a number of other helicopters to comprise the fireplace.
Footage of the crash aired by YTN tv confirmed the Jeju Air aircraft skidding throughout the airstrip, apparently with its touchdown gear nonetheless closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the ability. Different native TV stations aired footage exhibiting thick pillows of black smoke billowing from the aircraft engulfed with flames.
Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fireplace station, informed a televised briefing that rescue employees are persevering with to seek for our bodies scattered by the crash influence. The aircraft was utterly destroyed, with solely the tail meeting remaining recognizable among the many wreckage, he stated.
Staff have been wanting into varied prospects about what prompted the crash, together with whether or not the plane was struck by birds that prompted mechanical issues, Lee stated. Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan individually informed reporters that authorities investigators arrived on the web site to research the reason for the crash and fireplace.
Emergency officers in Muan stated the aircraft’s touchdown gear appeared to have malfunctioned. The Transport Ministry stated the aircraft was coming back from Bangkok and its passengers embrace two Thai nationals.
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the households of these affected by the accident by a submit on social platform X. Paetongtarn stated she had ordered the Ministry of Overseas Affairs to offer help instantly.
Jeju Air in a press release expressed its “deep apology” over the crash and stated it should do its “utmost to handle the aftermath of the accident.”
It is one of many deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation historical past. The final time South Korea suffered a large-scale air catastrophe was in 1997, when a Korean Airline aircraft crashed in Guam, killing 228 folks on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airways aircraft crash-landed in San Francisco, killing three and injuring roughly 200.
Sunday’s accident was additionally one of many worst touchdown mishaps since a July 2007 crash that killed all 187 folks on board and 12 others on the bottom when an Airbus A320 slid off a slick airstrip in Sao Paulo and collided with a close-by constructing, based on information compiled by the Flight Security Basis, a nonprofit group geared toward bettering air security.
The incident got here as South Korea is embroiled into an enormous political disaster triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s beautiful imposition of martial regulation and ensuing impeachment. Final Friday, South Korean lawmakers impeached performing President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, main Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.
Choi ordered officers to make use of all obtainable assets to rescue the passengers and crew earlier than he headed to Muan. Yoon’s workplace stated his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, will preside over an emergency assembly between senior presidential employees in a while Sunday to debate the crash.
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