Smoke rises from a passenger aircraft that crashed while attempting to land at Muan International Airport on Dec. 29, 2024. YonhapSEOUL, December 29 (AJP) – A passenger aircraft crashed while landing at a South Korean airport on Sunday, leaving 179 people dead and two others injured in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.
The Jeju Air flight 7C2216 from Bangkok, carrying 181 people, made an emergency belly landing at Muan International Airport in the southwestern region at 9:03 a.m. after a suspected bird strike damaged its landing gear, officials said.
The aircraft skidded off the runway before slamming into a wall and bursting into flames.
After a half-day rescue and recovery operation, the National Fire Agency confirmed 179 people were killed, including multiple family groups returning from Christmas vacations in Thailand. Two crew members were rescued from the tail section immediately after the accident.
The Boeing 737-800 jet was carrying 175 passengers — 173 South Koreans and two Thai nationals — along with six crew members.
The survivors were initially treated at a hospital in nearby Mokpo before being transferred to Seoul later in the day, where they remain in stable condition.
"After the aircraft hit the wall, passengers were ejected from the fuselage. The chance of survival is extremely low," an official from the South Jeolla Fire Agency told victims' families during an emergency briefing.
Officials said the aircraft was destroyed by fire except for the tail section, making victim identification difficult.
The crash is the third-deadliest tragedy in South Korean aviation history, following the 1983 incident where a Korean Air Boeing 747 was shot down by Soviet fighters over the East Sea, killing all 269 people aboard, and the 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that claimed 225 lives.
The official said the landing gear malfunction may have been caused by a bird strike, though the investigation is ongoing.
A transportation official confirmed the airport control tower warned of possible bird strikes just minutes before the crash.
The ill-fated plane departed from Bangkok at 1:30 a.m. and was originally scheduled to land at 8:30 a.m.
The bird strike warning was issued at 8:57 a.m., and the pilot declared a mayday emergency one minute later, Joo Jong-wan, director general of aviation policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, told reporters.
It attempted an initial landing at 9 a.m. but had to abort and perform a go-around maneuver before the fatal crash three minutes later, according to authorities. The aircraft was unable to slow down and hit a perimeter wall at the end of the runway.
Officials said the flight data recorder has been recovered, and they plan to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder when site conditions permit. They dismissed suggestions that the airport's 2,800-meter runway length was a factor in the crash.
A surviving crew member also said a bird strike likely caused the accident.
"It appears to have been a bird strike. One engine started smoking and then exploded," the survivor told rescue workers, according to fire officials.
A witness reported seeing the aircraft collide with a flock of birds moments before it crashed.
A 50-year-old man, who was fishing near the airport, said he saw the flight collide head-on with birds as it was descending to land, Yonhap News reported.
"There were two or three loud bangs, and I saw flames coming from the right engine, likely after some birds were sucked in," the witness said.
The plane attempted to gain altitude after the collision but couldn't climb very high. The witness observed the aircraft making a low-altitude turn to attempt a landing from the opposite direction.
Nine teenagers and five children under age 10 were also among those killed.
Some passengers sent messages to their families about a possible problem before the crash. "There's a problem with the aircraft," read one final message, attempting to sound reassuring.
Firefighters contained the blaze within 43 minutes after the crash, the National Fire Agency said.
The first emergency call was received at 9:03 a.m., and firefighters had the initial fire under control by 9:46 a.m. The agency deployed about 80 firefighters and helicopters to combat the blaze.
A total of 1,572 emergency response personnel were deployed to the crash site for a rescue and recovery operation, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
They include 490 firefighters, 455 police officers, 340 military personnel, as well as Coast Guard members and local government officials.
Later in the day, the government designated Muan County as a special disaster zone following the instructions of Acting President and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok.
He visited the accident site to oversee rescue operations and meet victims' families.
"All relevant agencies will cooperate fully in rescue operations and managing the aftermath," Choi said at an emergency meeting at the county office.
Choi has served as acting president since Friday, when the National Assembly voted to impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had been serving as interim leader following President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment on Dec. 14.
The government also declared a seven-day period of national mourning starting Sunday.
Memorial altars will be set up in 17 major cities and provinces across the country. Government buildings will fly flags at half-staff and public officials will wear mourning ribbons.
Jeju Air, founded in 2005, is one of South Korea's major low-cost carriers and is affiliated with Aekyung Group.
The company issued an apology following the crash.
"We deeply apologize to all those affected by the accident at Muan Airport. We will do our utmost to handle the aftermath of the accident," the company said in a statement.
"The aircraft was continuously maintained according to our maintenance program, and there were absolutely no signs of any abnormalities," he said during a press briefing in Seoul.
Kim declined to speculate on the cause of the crash, saying it would be determined by government investigators.
A passenger who flew on the same Jeju Air aircraft reported multiple engine failures during a flight just two days before the fatal accident.
"When I raised concerns about the engine shutdowns with the cabin crew, they dismissed it as a non-issue," said the passenger, who flew on flight 7C2216 from Muan to Bangkok on Dec. 27.
"Other passengers also expressed concerns, but the flight proceeded after a one-hour delay due to airport issues."
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