The worst air disaster in South Korea’s modern history has a chilling explanation. According to a Tuesday report by the National Audit Office, the death of 179 people at Muan Airport was due to the efforts of officials to save on earthworks.
The concrete barrier that caused the tragic crash of a South Korean airliner that killed 179 in late 2024 was built to cut costs, the country’s top inspection agency said on Tuesday. TASR writes about it according to an AFP report.
- The concrete barrier at Muan Airport was built primarily to save costs.
- The Jeju Air plane landed without extending the landing gear and crashed into a concrete structure.
- 179 people died in the crash.
- The Department of Transportation has approved a solid concrete structure to bypass expensive earthworks.
Simulation results
The Jeju Air plane crashed on December 29 at Muan Airport while returning from Thailand. This is the case with the largest number of victims on South Korean territory. The plane landed without extending the landing gear, went off the runway and exploded after hitting a concrete structure. Out of a total of 181 people on board, only two people survived.
A simulation commissioned by the South Korean government and released earlier this year showed that all the passengers would have survived if there had not been a concrete structure at the end of the airport’s runway. It housed a radio navigation system and was used to guide aircraft during landing. However, international aviation safety guidelines state that such navigation devices should be made of fragile or breakable materials.
Savings at the expense of safety
South Korea’s Audit and Inspection Board said in a report on Tuesday that the Ministry of Transport approved the concrete structure because it was “trying to reduce costs”. The report further details that the terrain on which the Muan Airport runway was built was sloping. Instead of leveling it, which would have required extensive earthwork and increased costs, officials decided to have the locator installed on a concrete structure above the level of the runway, according to the authority’s report.
“This reduced the amount of earthwork required. The resulting height difference from the highest point of the track was then addressed by building an embankment,” the report said.
However, if the navigation equipment at Muan Airport had been protected by a fragile structure, the plane would probably have broken through the perimeter fence and the impact would not have been strong enough to cause serious injury to the passengers. The plane would have continued to skid for approximately 770 meters from the point of impact before coming to a stop, according to the study’s conclusions.
