South Korea was reeling Monday from the lack of 179 individuals after a Jeju Air airplane crash-landed and burst into flames, with a crew of US investigators becoming a member of native authorities to probe potential causes.
The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 181 individuals from Thailand to South Korea when it crashed on arrival Sunday, killing everybody aboard — save two flight attendants pulled from the twisted wreckage of the worst aviation catastrophe on South Korean soil.
Officers have cited a chicken strike as a possible reason behind the crash, which flung passengers from the airplane and left it “nearly utterly destroyed”, in line with hearth officers.
Video confirmed Jeju Air Flight 2216 touchdown on its stomach at Muan Worldwide Airport, skidding off the runway as smoke streamed out from the engines, earlier than crashing right into a wall and exploding in flames.
The US Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) mentioned Sunday that it could lead a crew of investigators, together with from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), to hitch officers in South Korea in probing what prompted the crash. The nation has a stable air security document.
Each black bins — the flight information recorder and the cockpit voice recorder — have been discovered.
One of many flight attendants who survived was awake in hospital and capable of talk late Sunday, the Yonhap information company reported.
“Once I awakened, I had already been rescued,” the 33-year-old advised docs, in line with the hospital.
He suffered a number of fractures, whereas the opposite crew member — a 25-year-old lady — injured her ankle and head, Yonhap reported.
Contained in the airport terminal late Sunday, tearful relations gathered to attend for information.
An official known as out the names of 65 victims who’ve been recognized, with every identify triggering recent cries of grief.
Beneath floodlights, rescue staff used an enormous yellow crane to elevate the burned-out fuselage of the orange-and-white plane on the runway at Muan — some 288 kilometres (about 180 miles) southwest of Seoul.
Bits of airplane seats and baggage have been strewn throughout the sector subsequent to the runway, not removed from the charred tail.
The entire passengers have been Korean other than two Thais, a three-year-old and a 78-year-old, authorities mentioned.
“I had a son on board that airplane,” an aged man ready within the airport lounge, who requested to not be named, advised AFP.
“My youthful sister went to heaven as we speak,” a 65-year-old lady, who gave solely her surname Jo, advised AFP.
Authorities mentioned they have been working to finish the identification of all victims.
Minutes earlier than the crash, the management tower had issued a warning of a chicken strike, with the pilot quickly after making a “mayday” misery name.
Video reveals the airplane coming off the tarmac and hitting a wall, however officers dismissed hypothesis that the size of the runway could be an element within the crash.
Low-cost service Jeju Air mentioned it “sincerely” apologised, with high officers proven bowing deeply at a press convention in Seoul.
Boeing mentioned that it was in contact with Jeju Air and stood “able to help them”.
South Korea’s appearing President Choi Sang-mok, who took workplace solely on Friday, convened an emergency cupboard assembly after which visited the crash web site at Muan.
US President Joe Biden led a wave of world condolences, saying he was “deeply saddened” by the crash.
South Korea declared a seven-day nationwide mourning interval, with memorial altars to be arrange nationwide.
It’s the first deadly accident within the historical past of Jeju Air, certainly one of South Korea’s largest low-cost carriers, which was established in 2005.
Various deadly aviation accidents have occurred globally as a result of chicken strikes, which may trigger a lack of energy if the animals are sucked right into a airplane’s air intakes.
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