Dozens of individuals died Sunday when a passenger aircraft crashed at an airport in southwestern South Korea, with the aircraft hurtling down the runway on its stomach earlier than catching hearth.
According to the native hearth brigade, a minimum of 96 individuals have been confirmed lifeless to date. Two individuals, each crew members, have been pulled alive from the crash web site, however rescuers warned there was little hope of discovering any extra survivors.
Jeju Air Flight 7C 2216 from Bangkok was carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew members when the catastrophe struck on the airport in Muan County shortly after 9 a.m. native time Sunday (7 p.m. ET Saturday). The crash was attributable to a touchdown gear malfunction, officers stated.
Footage of Sunday’s crash broadcast by a number of South Korean information retailers confirmed the aircraft sliding on its stomach at excessive velocity, hitting an earth embankment and exploding in a fireball.
Neither the rear nor the entrance touchdown gear have been seen within the footage – broadcast by networks together with YTN, JTBC and MBC – as smoke billowed from the rear of the sliding aircraft.
Firefighters have been later seen utilizing hoses to place out the burning wreckage of the aircraft, which was listed as a Boeing 737-800 on flight monitoring web site FlightConscious. Several components of the aircraft have been additionally seen scattered on the runway.
Firefighters and rescue crew members work on the tarmac at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (Lee Young-ju/Newsis by way of AP) – Lee Young-ju/Newsis/AP
According to the South Jeolla Fire Department, the victims embrace 47 males, 48 females and one baby whose gender has not been decided. According to the rescue crew, each survivors have been crew members, one male and one feminine.
Two Thai nationals have been amongst these on board, in line with South Korea’s Ministry of Land, which stated officers from the National Accident Investigation Committee had arrived to research the reason for the crash.
Rescuers will seek for “black field” flight information recorders after recovering the our bodies of the remaining victims, the Transport Ministry stated in a briefing. The recorders provide aviation security investigators vital information when reconstructing what occurred after a crash.
More than 700 police, military and coast guard personnel have been mobilized for the on-site response, the ministry added.
All flights to Muan International Airport have been cancelled, the Korea Airports Corporation stated.
South Korea’s interim president, Choi Sang-mok, arrived on the crash web site within the early afternoon. According to a press launch from the Ministry of Interior and Security, Choi had beforehand instructed rescue employees to mobilize “all out there gear and personnel” to reply to the incident.
The tragedy comes simply two days into Choi’s interim presidency, the most recent chapter in a interval of political chaos in South Korea.
The nation’s present president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was stripped of his powers by parliament two weeks in the past following a short-lived martial regulation order that threw the country into political chaos. He is presently suspended whereas a excessive court docket decides his destiny.
Han Duck-soo, the person who took over to switch Yoon as interim president, he was impeached by parliament on Fridaythat means that Choi – finance minister and deputy prime minister – intervened in his place.
Sunday’s crash is “very disconcerting” provided that each the aircraft and the plane provider have a wonderful security file and flying situations have been glorious, an aviation journalist stated.
The Boeing 737-800 is likely one of the most generally used planes on this planet, and every is used for about 4 or 5 flights a day, Geoffrey Thomas, editor of Airline News, informed CNN’s Paula Newton.
“It is probably the most dependable plane on this planet and has been in service for 20 years,” he stated. “Everyone is aware of the way it works. And it really works actually, rather well. And the upkeep accomplished in (South) Korea is nearly as good as wherever on this planet.”
South Korean firefighters stated there could have been a touchdown gear malfunction and pictures confirmed the aircraft sliding on its stomach.
“It is unclear whether or not or not the touchdown gear collapsed throughout touchdown or if it was not activated in any respect. This is a very critical matter that clearly investigators are going to focus rather a lot on,” Thomas stated.
He added that it was “disconcerting” that the accident had occurred, provided that the touchdown had taken place in dry, sunny situations at airport.
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