All but two of 181 people onboard a plane that crashed while landing at an airport in South Korea are presumed to have died, in the country’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster.
Officials said they had confirmed that 177 people died in the crash on Sunday at Muan international airport in the country’s south-west, while two crew members – a man and a woman – had been rescued. Two people remained missing nine hours after the incident.
Footage of the crash showed the Boeing 737-800 skid along the runway and veer off across a buffer zone before striking a concrete barrier at high speed and bursting into flames as parts of the fuselage flew into the air.
A local fire official said the crash could have been caused by a bird strike and weather conditions, but the exact cause was not yet known.
Transport ministry officials said an early assessment of communication records showed that the airport control tower had issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it intended to land and gave its pilot permission to land in a different area. The pilot sent out a distress signal shortly before the plane went past the runway and skidded across a buffer zone before hitting the wall, the officials said.
“The cause of the accident is presumed to be a bird strike combined with adverse weather conditions,” Lee Jeong-hyun, the chief of Muan fire station, told a media briefing. “However, the exact cause will be announced following a joint investigation.”
Joo Jong-wan, a transport ministry official, said workers had retrieved the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the plane’s black box. They will be examined by government experts, Joo said, adding that the runway would be closed until 1 January.
There were heartbreaking scenes at the airport as more than 100 family members gathered in a meeting room to receive updates about their loved ones. When Lee told families that most passengers were presumed dead, the room erupted in wails of grief.
“Is there absolutely no chance of survival?” one family member asked. The fire chief could only bow his head and reply: “I’m so sorry, but that’s what it’s looking like.”
Lee later said the tail section was the only part of the plane to have retained “a little bit of its shape. The rest is almost impossible to recognise.”
Some families voiced anger at what they saw as a delayed response from authorities and the airline. They had pleaded to be allowed near the crash site since the morning, but were denied access because of the restricted nature of the airport zone.
One relative used a microphone to plead for more information. “My older brother died and I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “I don’t know.”
The accident occurred at about 9am local time, shortly after the plane, Jeju Air flight 7C2216, landed at the airport about 186 miles south-west of Seoul, at the end of a flight from Bangkok.
Thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising into the sky after the crash. Some photos showed fire engulfing parts of the aircraft.
Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was staying near the airport, told the Yonhap news agency he saw a spark on the plane’s right wing before the incident. “I was telling my family there was a problem with the plane when I heard a loud explosion,” Yoo said.
Another witness, Kim Yong-cheol, 70, said the plane failed to land in the first attempt and had circled back for another attempt. Kim said he heard the sound of “metallic scraping” twice about five minutes before the crash. He saw the plane rising after failing to make a landing, before he heard a “loud explosion” and saw “black smoke billowing into the sky”.
The crash was the worst on South Korean soil and one of the deadliest in its aviation history. The last time South Korea suffered a large-scale air disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Air plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people onboard. In 2013, an Asiana Airlines plane crashlanded in San Francisco, killing three people and injuring 200.
Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in aviation operations at Buckinghamshire New University, speculated that damage from a bird strike involving the right-hand engine could have caused a hydraulic system failure that left the pilot unable to deploy the landing gear.
“The Boeing 737-800 is a reliable and widely used aircraft, and this crash appears to result from an unfortunate chain of events rather than a systemic design flaw,” Chan said.
Jeju Air, one of South Korea’s largest low-cost carriers, switched its website to a minimalist, black background in response to the crash. In a statement, it said: “Jeju Air deeply bows in apology to all those affected by the Muan airport accident. Our first priority is to do everything possible to manage this incident. We sincerely apologise for causing concern.”
A company official told Yonhap that the aircraft involved in Sunday’s crash had been in operation for 15 years and had no history of accidents.
The two surviving crew members were rescued from the tail of the aircraft and had suffered “mid to severe” injuries, authorities said.
Local authorities said they were coordinating with major hospitals in the nearby city of Gwangju to handle the casualties.
Officials said 173 of the passengers were Korean nationals and two were Thai nationals.
The Muan-Bangkok international route was launched three weeks ago, on 8 December, as part of a revamp in which the regional airport would operate routes to 18 international destinations across nine countries this winter season, according to Yonhap News.
The national fire agency said the initial fire in the wreckage of the plane was brought under control at 9.46am, 43 minutes after the first emergency call was received at 9.03am.
South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, ordered “all available equipment and personnel to be mobilised” for the rescue operation and was heading to the scene of the crash.
The incident is the first major test for Choi, who assumed office on Friday after South Korea’s parliament voted to impeach the previous acting president, Han Duck-soo.
Philip Goldberg, the US ambassador to South Korea, said on social media: “I was heartbroken to hear about the tragedy at Muan airport this morning.”
The UK ambassador, Colin Crooks, wrote: “Deepest condolences to the families of those who perished in this morning’s dreadful air accident at Muan.”
Experts said South Korea’s aviation industry had a solid track record for safety, and this was the first fatal accident that Jeju Air had experienced since it was founded in 2005.
Previous major accidents on Korean soil include the 1993 Asiana Airlines crash in Mokpo that killed 68 people, and a 2002 Air China crash near Gimhae airport in which 129 of 166 passengers died.
On 12 August 2007, a Bombardier Q400 operated by Jeju Air carrying 74 passengers came off the runway as a result of strong winds at the southern Busan-Gimhae airport, causing a dozen injuries.
Sunday’s crash came almost a year after a Japan Airlines plane struck a coastguard aircraft and burst into flames as it landed at Haneda airport in Tokyo. All 379 passengers and 12 crew managed to exit the aircraft before it was engulfed in flames. Five crew members of the coastguard plane died in the accident.
