At least 122 people dead in South Korea plane crash

Dozens of people died on Sunday when a passenger jet crash-landed at an 
airport in southwestern South Korea, with the aircraft skidding down the 
runway on its belly before bursting into flames.

At least 122 people have been confirmed dead so far, according to the 
local fire department. Two people, both crew members, were pulled alive 
from the wreckage however rescuers warned chances finding other survivors 
are slim.

Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 from Bangkok was carrying 175 passengers and six 
crew when disaster struck at the airport in Muan county, just after 9 a.m. 
local time Sunday (7 p.m. ET Saturday).

It is the deadliest aviation disaster to hit South Korea since 1997, when 
a Korean Airlines Boeing 747 crashed in the Guam jungle, with the loss of 
228 lives.

The chief executive of Jeju Air, South Korea’s largest low-cost carrier, 
said the aircraft had shown “no signs of issues” prior to Sunday’s 
accident.

Here’s what to know:

Search for a cause: Both local fire officials and aviation experts say 
some sort of landing gear malfunction was likely. Lee Jeong-hyun, the head 
of the Muan Fire Department, also briefed the media saying that the cause 
was “estimated to be the occurrence of a bird strike or bad weather.”

Mayday call: The plane’s pilot made a mayday call to the control tower 
about a minute after acceding to controllers’ request to change landing 
runways to avoid a possible bird strike risk, according to a briefing from 
the Land Ministry. The plane hit navigation equipment on the ground before 
crashing into a wall.

One “black box” found: The flight data recording black box has been 
recovered by the accident investigation committee but the voice recording 
device has not been recovered yet, officials said. The “black boxes” offer 
aviation safety investigators critical facts when piecing together what 
happened after an incident.

Dramatic scenes: Footage of Sunday’s crash broadcast by multiple South 
Korean news outlets showed the plane sliding on its belly at high speed, 
hitting an earthen embankment and erupting into a fireball. The video 
footage showed neither the back nor front landing gear were visible as 
smoke poured from the back of the sliding aircraft.

Passengers likely dead: The victims include 54 males, 57 females, and 11 
people whose gender could not be determined, according to the South Jeolla 
Fire Service. Two Thai nationals were among those on board, according to 
the Land Ministry, while the rest were South Korean.

Strong safety record: US aviation giant Boeing has had a turbulent time in 
recent years, including two 737 Max crashes. But the plane involved in the 
latest crash, a Boeing 737-800, is described by analysts as a reliable 
workhorse of the skies with an extremely strong safety record.

Backdrop of political crisis: The tragic plane crash comes as South 
Korea’s government faces a full-blown political crisis and leadership 
remains uncertain. South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, who has 
only been in the job since Friday, traveled to Muan International Airport 
where the plane crashed on Sunday.

Crashed airliner made mayday call after control tower warned about birds 
in the area
By CNN’s Gawon Bae and Lucas Lilieholm
The South Korean airliner that crashed at the Muan International Airport 
on Sunday made a mayday call shortly after the control tower warned about 
birds in the area, according to a briefing from the Land Ministry.

The jet initially attempted to land on runway no.01, when the control 
tower warned that birds were in the area and a strike was possible. 
Approximately one minute later, the pilot made a mayday call to the tower.

The control tower instructed the plane to land in the opposite direction 
on runway no.19. The pilot followed the instructions and the plane struck 
navigation equipment on the ground before crashing into a wall.

The landing attempt occurred approximately two minutes after the pilot 
made the mayday call, according to the ministry. Authorities are 
continuing their investigation.

One black box recovered

The flight data recording black box has been recovered by the accident 
investigation committee while the voice recording device has not been 
recovered yet, officials from the ministry said in a briefing.

The flight data recorders or so-called “black boxes” offer aviation safety 
investigators critical facts when piecing together an incident.

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/south-korea-plane-crash-12-29-24-intl-
hnk/index.html