With only two confirmed survivors, the case marks the deadliest tragedy in the history of the Asian country; The aircraft had issued a distress call after a first landing attempt, and alerted the crew that the plane had been hit by birds.
This is what is known about the crash of a Boeing from the low-cost airline Jeju Air that occurred on Saturday night in a country with high levels of aviation safety. With only two survivors and 179 confirmed deaths, it is the deadliest plane crash in South Korean history.
What happened?
Jeju Air flight 2216, coming from Bangkok with 181 people on board, crashed after landing at Muan airport, about 290 kilometers south of the capital, Seoul, at 9:03 am on Sunday (9:03 pm on Saturday Brasília time) , according to the Ministry of Territories. The aircraft had issued a distress call after an initial landing attempt, during which the control tower alerted the crew that the plane had been struck by birds. A video released by South Korean channel MBC shows the plane landing with smoke coming from its engines, apparently without the landing gear. The plane leaves the runway and catches fire.
How many people were on the plane?
There were 175 passengers on the plane, including two Thais, and six crew members. Of the 181 people on board, only two survived. According to the specialized website Flightradar, the plane, a Boeing 737-8AS, had entered service in 2009.
How are the rescue operations going?
Emergency services moved dozens of vehicles to the scene of the accident. Images released on local television show the entire plane burned, except the tail, and bodies wrapped in blue shrouds being evacuated on stretchers. South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, chaired an emergency government meeting and visited the crash site later in the day.
What is the cause of the accident?
“We assume the cause of the accident was a bird strike, combined with adverse weather conditions,” said Muan fire chief Lee Jeong-hyun. “However, the exact cause will be announced after a joint investigation,” he added. The first information from the South Korean agency Yonhap indicated a “landing gear failure”. According to the same source, the plane landed without deploying its landing gear and caught fire after colliding with a fence at the end of the runway.
What are the dangers of bird strikes?
Bird strikes can cause significant engine or windshield damage and are the cause of many plane crashes. In most cases, this type of collision occurs during takeoff or landing, when the engines are fully operational. One of the most famous cases occurred in 2009, when the pilot of a US Airways Airbus A320, with 155 occupants, managed to land on the Hudson River in New York after such a collision.
Other plane accidents
This is the first fatal accident in the history of Jeju Air, founded in 2005. On August 12, 2007, a Bombardier Q400 from its fleet carrying 74 people left the runway at Busan-Gimhae airport (southeast), resulting in a dozen of slightly injured people. Before this tragedy, the most serious plane crash in South Korea was that of an Air China Boeing 767 from Beijing, which crashed into a hill near Busan-Gimhae airport, leaving 129 people dead.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Victor Oliveira
