A passenger plane with 181 people on board erupted in flames after veering off the runway and crashing into a wall at an airport in Muan, South Korea, on Sunday, with authorities indicating that all but two are likely dead.
Yonhap news agency, citing firefighting authorities reported that, except for the two rescued, all the missing passengers are presumed dead and that search efforts have now shifted to recovering the bodies.
The Boeing 737-800 flight – operated by airline Jeju Air – had 181 passengers on board and was arriving at Muan Airport from Bangkok, Thailand.
Footage online shows the plane coming off the runway and crashing into a wall, before bursting into flames.
What caused the South Korea plane crash?
Preliminary reports suggested that the Jeju Air passenger plane’s front landing gear failed to deploy as the plane with 181 people aboard was seen skidding across the airstrip with its landing gear closed at the Muan airport, 290km south of the capital Seoul.
A Yonhap report quoting airport authorities said the pilot tried a crash landing after a regular landing attempt failed. This could have been the result of a bird strike. “Witnesses cited signs that the plane’s landing gear, such as tires, remained unactivated, possibly sending it to attempt a crash landing, with a bird collision presumed to be the cause of the malfunction,” the report said.
Social media users, including former pilots, have raised several questions. One of them is the plane’s high speed when landing on a runway less than 3 km long.
Others have asked why firefighters are not in position near the runway if it was a planned belly landing.
There is another question, the aircraft trajectory shows the plane did not circle before attempting a belly landing, considered a last-ditch maneuver. Planes hit by technical malfunction usually circle the airport as the pilots try to figure out a solution. In this case, however, that was not done.
South Korea accident follows deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash
The plane crash in South Korea comes days after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed in Kazakhstan killing 38 people.
After several reported unsuccessful attempts to receive landing permission at Russian airports, flight J2-8243 of Azerbaijan Airlines lost control of the aircraft.
It later lost contact with air traffic control staff as well, before it crashed near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, as testified by the recordings of the pilot’s agonizing last contact attempts.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Saturday apologized to the president of Azerbaijan, Aliyev, for a “tragic incident that took place in Russian air space” acknowledging that Russian air defense hit the plane.
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