A total of 179 people would have lost their lives, with the exception of two people rescued, on Sunday after a plane skidded off the runway and crashed into a fence after landing at Muan International Airport, in the South Korean province of South Jeolla. , according to preliminary information from firefighters cited by the Yonhap agency.
The official death toll stands at 85, while authorities continue work in the area and check the condition of the victims, although they have already noted that the majority would be “presumably dead” and the official number is expected to rise drastically in the next few hours.
The accident occurred around 9:07 (00:07 GMT), when Jeju Air flight 7C2216, which had departed from Bangkok airport in Thailand on the morning of that day, was trying to land at Muan airport and crashed into the fence.
The authorities confirmed that a total of 181 people were traveling, including 6 crew members, 173 Korean passengers and 2 Thai passengers and the fire service managed to rescue two people, a crew member and a passenger, according to the most recent data. .
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Police and firefighters are investigating the exact cause of the incident, which they believe was caused by a failure to deploy the plane’s landing gear, possibly caused by a bird strike.
Airport authorities said the plane was attempting a forced landing due to a landing gear malfunction when the impact occurred, after its first landing attempt failed.
However, the plane would not have been able to reduce speed until it reached the end of the runway, which caused the crash and the ship to start burning. Witnesses in the area indicated that some tires had not activated.
In the images, shared by Yonhap, the aircraft is seen severely damaged, with the tail severed and on fire.
The first report about what happened to the ship came shortly after 9:00 (00:00 GMT), however, the first response from the authorities did not arrive until 9:46 (00:46), when 80 personnel from the rescue headquarters and the Fire Aviation Unit were mobilized.
A total of 180 personnel, including military personnel, firefighters and ambulances, are in the area.
The country’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, ordered that all possible efforts be made in rescue operations after the accident and the police also mobilized units.
All domestic and international flights to and from Muan International Airport were cancelled.
With information from EFE
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