South Korean President Jae-myong I has ordered disciplinary action against officials responsible for inconsistencies in the collection of remains following the 2024 plane crash that killed 179 people. This was announced by the President’s office on Thursday, TASR reports, according to a Reuters report.
- South Korean President Jae-myong I ordered disciplinary action for the negligent collection of remains.
- Jeju Air crash in Muan 2024 claimed 179 lives.
- Re-examination of the wreckage revealed nine human remains from the seven victims.
The Jeju Air plane crashed on December 29, 2024 at Muan Airport while returning from Thailand. This is the case with the largest number of victims on the territory of South Korea. 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.
The families of the victims are protesting
The Korea Times reported on Monday that families of the crash victims protested after government officials and police investigators found nine pieces of human remains during a re-examination of the plane’s wreckage on February 26. Among them was a 25-centimeter-long bone, which they confirmed belonged to one of the victims.
The president expressed regret and sent condolences to the families after investigators found nine remains of the seven victims, according to his aide. He ordered authorities to find out why they, along with 648 personal belongings and 155 pieces of aircraft debris, were left unattended for so long.
Criticism of the government
The Ministry of Transport apologized for this on Tuesday, but the families of the victims criticize the government for leaving the remains and personal belongings of the victims in open storage.
The survivors said in a statement that the discovery of these remains more than a year after the tragic accident “demonstrates the absence of a national disaster management system.” According to them, the government must apologize to the affected families and “find out the truth about why it failed to respond to this disaster”.
Barrier alert
The president’s directive came after the country’s top inspection agency said on Tuesday that the concrete barrier that caused the tragic crash was built to cut costs.
A study 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.
