Greater than 165 useless as airplane crashes off runway in South Korea and catches hearth

A minimum of 167 folks have been killed when a passenger airplane skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport, slammed right into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its entrance touchdown gear failed. or apparently not deployed, officers stated.

The Nationwide Hearth Company stated rescuers rushed to extract passengers from the Jeju Air airplane carrying 181 folks on the airport within the metropolis of Muan, about 290 km south of Seoul.

The Transport Ministry stated it was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 getting back from Bangkok and the crash occurred at 9:03 a.m. native time.

A minimum of 167 folks – 79 girls, 77 males and 11 others whose gender was not instantly identifiable – died within the hearth, firefighters stated.

The dying toll is predicted to rise additional as the opposite folks on board the airplane are nonetheless lacking roughly six hours after the incident.

Rescuers introduced two folks, each crew members, to security, and native well being authorities stated they remained acutely aware.

Firefighters deployed 32 hearth vehicles and a number of other helicopters to comprise the fireplace. About 1,560 firefighters, law enforcement officials, troopers and different officers have been additionally dispatched to the scene, based on the assertion.

Footage of the accident broadcast by YTN tv confirmed the Jeju Air airplane skidding off the runway, apparently with its touchdown gear nonetheless closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the set up.

Different native tv channels broadcast photographs exhibiting thick plumes of black smoke escaping from the airplane, which was engulfed in flames.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan hearth station, informed a televised briefing that the airplane was destroyed, with solely the tail remaining recognizable among the many wreckage.

He stated employees have been investigating varied potentialities as to the reason for the crash, together with whether or not the airplane was struck by birds.

Transportation Division officers later stated their preliminary evaluation of communications data confirmed the airport management tower had issued a hen strike warning to the airplane shortly earlier than it supposed to land and had given its pilot permission to land in a distinct space.

The pilot despatched a misery sign shortly earlier than the airplane overshot the runway and crossed a buffer zone earlier than hitting the wall, officers stated.

Joo Jong-wan, a senior Transport Ministry official, stated employees had retrieved flight knowledge and voice recorders from the airplane’s cockpit, which can be examined by authorities specialists, and that the airport runway de Muan could be closed till January 1st.

Rescue officers in Muan stated the airplane’s touchdown gear appeared to have malfunctioned.

The Transport Ministry stated the airplane’s passengers included two Thai nationals.

In a message on social platform X, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed his honest condolences to the households of these affected by the accident. She stated she had ordered the Overseas Ministry to supply rapid help.

Kerati Kijmanawat, Thailand’s director of airports, confirmed in an announcement that Jeju Air Flight 7C 2216 took off from Suvarnabhumi Airport with no irregular situations reported on the airplane or on the runway.

Jeju Air issued an announcement expressing its “deep apologies” for the accident and stated it could do “every part doable to take care of the aftermath of the accident.”

In a televised information convention, the airline’s chief government, Kim E-bae, bowed deeply with different senior airline officers whereas apologizing to the bereaved households and stated that he felt “totally accountable” for the incident.

He stated the corporate had not recognized any mechanical issues with the airplane following common checks and would await the outcomes of presidency investigations into the reason for the incident.

Boeing stated in an announcement on X that it was in touch with Jeju Air and able to assist the corporate in dealing with the accident.

“We lengthen our deepest condolences to the households who’ve misplaced family members, and our ideas stay with the passengers and crew,” it learn.

It was one of many deadliest disasters in South Korean aviation historical past.

The final time South Korea suffered a large-scale air catastrophe was in 1997, when a Korean airline airplane crashed in Guam, killing 228 folks on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airways airplane crashed in San Francisco, killing three folks and injuring round 200.

Sunday’s crash was additionally one of many worst touchdown accidents since July 2007, which killed all 187 folks on board and 12 others on the bottom when an Airbus A320 slid off a slippery touchdown strip. in Sao Paulo and had collided with a close-by constructing, based on the information. compiled by the Flight Security Basis, a nonprofit group geared toward bettering aviation security.

In 2010, 158 folks died when an Air India Specific airplane overshot a runway in Mangalore, India, and plunged right into a gorge earlier than catching hearth, based on the protection basis.

The incident occurred as South Korea is plunged into an enormous political disaster triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s gorgeous imposition of martial legislation and subsequent impeachment.

Final Friday, South Korean politicians eliminated interim President Han Duck-soo from workplace and suspended him, main Vice Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.

Mr Choi ordered authorities to make use of all obtainable assets to rescue passengers and crew earlier than heading in the direction of Muan.

Mr. Yoon’s workplace stated his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, would chair an emergency assembly amongst senior presidential officers in a while Sunday to debate the accident.