SEOUL, August 11 (AJP) - South Korean police investigating the 2024 Jeju Air disaster raided the transport ministry and other aviation authorities Tuesday as part of a widening probe into possible negligence linked to the crash that killed 179 people.
A special investigation team began executing search warrants at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Airports Corp. and the Busan Regional Office of Aviation at around 9 a.m., according to police.
Investigators said the searches were aimed at securing additional evidence related to suspected professional negligence resulting in death and injury.
The latest raids come as police examine the roles of government agencies and airport authorities in the disaster, including the construction and oversight of a concrete embankment at Muan International Airport that the aircraft struck after overrunning the runway.
The special investigation team previously raided the transport ministry in March and again in June.
Korea Airports Corp., which operates Muan International Airport, has now been searched twice since the special investigation team was launched. Police are also investigating allegations that the transport ministry sought to downplay or conceal problems surrounding the concrete structure after initially maintaining that it did not violate regulations.
Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, a Boeing 737-800 flying from Bangkok, crashed at Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea on Dec. 29, 2024.
The aircraft made an emergency belly landing without its landing gear deployed, overran the runway and slammed into a concrete embankment supporting a localizer, a navigation system that helps guide aircraft during landing. Of the 181 people aboard, 179 were killed. Two flight attendants seated near the rear of the aircraft survived.
It was the deadliest aviation disaster on South Korean soil.
A preliminary investigation found evidence of bird strikes in both engines. The aircraft's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder stopped recording about four minutes before the crash, complicating efforts to reconstruct the final moments of the flight.
Scrutiny has increasingly focused on the concrete embankment at the end of the runway and whether it unnecessarily increased the severity of the accident.
In March, South Korea's Board of Audit and Inspection found that the 2.4-meter-high embankment had been built in part to reduce earthwork costs without adequate review of relevant safety requirements. International aviation standards generally require structures supporting equipment such as localizers in runway safety areas to be designed to break away upon impact.
The official investigation has also faced criticism from victims' families over its pace and independence.
South Korea subsequently moved the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board from under the transport ministry to the prime minister's office, with revised legislation taking effect on Feb. 28 to strengthen the body's independence.
The investigation was effectively restarted this summer under a newly constituted accident investigation board, more than a year and a half after the disaster, as authorities continue to examine the bird strike, the aircraft and crew response, airport safety facilities and possible regulatory failures.
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