Investigators into the crash of a Boeing 737-800 of South Korea’s low-cost airline Jeju Air at Muan airport on December 29, which claimed 179 lives, found bird feathers and blood in both engines. A source familiar with the investigation told Reuters on Friday.
South Korea’s Ministry of Transport declined to comment. Only two crew members survived the worst plane crash in South Korea. The aircraft skidded off the runway while landing without the landing gear extended, hit a wall behind it and exploded.
About four minutes before the crash, one of the pilots, according to South Korean authorities reported a bird strike and sent out an emergency call. He then tried to land at the opposite end of the runway. Two minutes before the pilot sent the distress call, air traffic control advised the crew to exercise caution as the presence of birds was noted in the area.
Authorities said last week that both of the plane’s black boxes stopped recording flight data and pilot communications about four minutes before the crash. According to experts, this indicates that apparently, the plane’s electricity supply was interrupted and the back-up sources did not work either, which is unusual.
