MONITORING (SW) – At least 124 people were killed when an airliner veered off the runway and erupted into a fireball as it slammed into a wall at South Korea’s Muan International Airport on Sunday, the national fire agency said.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 181 people on board, was attempting to land shortly after 9am at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea’s transport ministry said.
This is the deadliest air accident involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, according to ministry data, reported Reuters.
Two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a briefing. The fire was extinguished by 1pm, Lee said.
Authorities have switched from rescue to recovery operations and because of the force of the impact, are searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee added.
The two crew were being treated at hospitals with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health centre.
Authorities have switched from rescue to recovery operations and because of the force of the impact, are searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee added.
Yonhap news agency cited a fire official as saying most of the 175 passengers and six crew were presumed dead.
At least 58 bodies have been recovered but that number is not final, another fire official told Reuters.
Authorities had worked to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official told Reuters shortly after the crash.
The twin-engine plane can be seen in video from local media skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane.
