At least 177 people were reportedly killed on Sunday when a plane crashed on a route between Thailand and South Korea with 181 people on board. The aircraft, a Jeju Air Boeing 738-800, crashed and burst into flames during an emergency landing when it hit the barrier at the end of the runway at Muan airport, about 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul.
South Korean authorities said the cause of the crash could be related to a bird strike in flight or difficult weather conditions in the region. The plane, according to local fire service sources quoted by several media, was ‘almost completely destroyed’ during the landing, which according to videos recorded by cameras in the area occurred while attempting a difficult manoeuvre to land without having the landing gear deployed, until the runway apparently seems to end and the aircraft continues until it hits a concrete wall located at the end of the runway.
Due to the force of the crash, the plane exploded in the middle of a huge fireball with hundreds of fragments flying through the air, which, according to the emergency services themselves, ‘leaves little chance of survival’, and will make it difficult to identify the deceased. Initially two people were reported rescued, both crew members, who were confirmed dead hours later. While most of the passengers were between the ages of 40 and 60, among the victims were five children under the age of 10, the youngest passenger being a child of only 3 years old while the oldest was a 78 years old passenger.
The South Korean government reported that the accident occurred at 9:03 a.m. local time (01:03 CET) during the landing manoeuvre of low cost Jeju Air flight 2216, and that two minutes before the plane crashed, the pilots had issued a ‘Mayday’ call requesting an emergency landing to the control tower, which had previously alerted the captain of the risk due to the presence of birds in the area.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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