Only two of the 181 passengers believed to have survived the plane crash at Muan Airport in South Korea, said the local emergency services. So far, 120 people have been confirmed dead. TASR informs about it according to the reports of Jonhap, AFP and CNN.
A Jeju Air plane veered off the runway and crashed into a wall at Muan Airport on Sunday. Except for the two survivors, all of the missing are presumed dead. Rescuers are still searching for victims. Two crew members reportedly survived the accident, earlier, the media reported that one passenger was among the survivors.
“After the plane hit the wall, the passengers were thrown from the plane. The chances of survival are very low,” said a representative of the fire service. The plane caught fire and is almost completely destroyed, according to officials.
There were 181 people on board the plane, which was returning from Bangkok, including six crew members. Most of the passengers were South Koreans, except for two Thai citizens. According to the authorities, the cause of the accident could be a failure of the landing gear, possibly due to a collision with a bird. Investigators are still looking into the cause, Jonhap writes.
In its first statement on the accident, Jeju Air said it would work to come to terms with the crash of its flight. “We are currently working to determine the exact cause and details of the situation,” announced the representative of the company. “The plane has been in operation for 15 years and there has been no accident in the past,” he added.
