Dozens killed when passenger jet crashes while landing at South Korean airport

A passenger airplane burst into flames Sunday morning after it skid off a runway at a South Korean airport and slammed right into a concrete fence when its entrance touchdown gear apparently did not deploy, killing at the very least 85 folks, officers mentioned, in one of many nation’s worst aviation disasters.  

The Nationwide Fireplace Company mentioned rescuers raced to tug folks from the Jeju Air passenger airplane carrying 181 folks on the airport within the city of Muan, about 180 miles south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry recognized the airplane as a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet and mentioned the crash occurred at 9:03 a.m. native time. The airplane was coming back from Bangkok. 

At the least 85 folks — 46 ladies and 39 males — died within the fireplace, the company mentioned. Emergency staff pulled out two folks, each crew members, and native well being officers mentioned they continue to be aware. It mentioned it deployed 32 fireplace vans and several other helicopters to include the fireplace.

South Korean information company Yonhap reported that there have been believed to be 173 South Korean passengers aboard the flight and two Thai nationals. There have been additionally six crew members aboard the flight, Reuters reported. 

Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fireplace station, informed a televised briefing that rescue staff are persevering with to seek for our bodies scattered by the crash impression. The airplane was fully destroyed, with solely the tail meeting remaining recognizable among the many wreckage, he mentioned.  

Footage of the crash aired by YTN tv confirmed the Jeju Air airplane skidding throughout the airstrip, apparently with its touchdown gear nonetheless closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the power. Native TV stations aired footage displaying thick pillows of black smoke billowing from the airplane engulfed with flame.

Staff have been trying into varied prospects about what precipitated the crash, together with whether or not the plane was struck by birds that precipitated mechanical issues, Lee mentioned. Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan individually informed reporters that authorities investigators arrived on the website to analyze the reason for the crash and fireplace.

Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the households of these affected by the accident by means of a social media publish. Paetongtarn mentioned she had ordered the Ministry of International Affairs to supply help instantly.    

Appearing South Korean President Choi Sang-mok ordered an all-out rescue response, Reuters reported. Choi solely turned appearing president Friday, changing the earlier appearing president, Han Duck-soo, following Han’s impeachment. All of it comes within the wake of the federal government disaster brought on by the Dec. 3 martial regulation declaration from former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was later impeached as effectively. 

This is without doubt one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation historical past. The final time South Korea suffered a large-scale air catastrophe was in 1997, when an Korean Airline airplane crashed in Guam, killing 228 folks on board.  

This comes after 38 folks have been killed and 29 extra injured when an Azerbaijan Airways airplane sure from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian metropolis of Grozny crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan on Christmas Day. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an apology for the crash, and the Kremlin mentioned in an announcement that air protection techniques have been firing close to Grozny airport because the airliner “repeatedly” tried to land there. It didn’t, although, explicitly say certainly one of these hit the airplane.

A U.S. official informed CBS Information there have been early indications a Russian anti-aircraft system could have struck the airplane in a area the place Ukrainian and Russian forces have traded drone and rocket fireplace for months.  

Extra from CBS Information