At least 179 people have died, according to the latest official toll, after the plane crash occurred this Sunday in the southwest of South Korea, where a Jeju Air airline flight with 181 occupants (175 of them passengers) crashed into a wall during a landing maneuver at Muan International Airport, about 290 kilometers away. southwest of the capital, Seoul.
The Fire Service has closed its official balance after hours earlier the authorities declared 179 of the occupants of the device, a Boeing 737-800 from Bangkok (Thailand), dead. Only two people, both crew membershave survived the tremendous impact.
The South Korean Ministry of Transportation has reported that the plane crew warned, five minutes before the accident, of a collision with a flock of birds which caused damage to the device, unable to open its landing gear, according to a preliminary investigation, although it does not rule out other theories such as a mechanical failure.
In any case, the device he touched the ground on his belly around 09:03, local time, and went off the runway until crashing into the outer wall in a fireball extinguished by firefighters 43 minutes later, with the plane already practically destroyed.
There were 175 passengers and six crew members on board, according to the flight manifest — a passenger of 82 men and 93 women between the ages of 3 and 78. The latest balance details that 22 of the deceased have already been identified.
“After the plane hit the wall, The passengers were thrown away. The chances of survival are extremely low,” said a Fire Department official after the previous report collected, like this last one, by the South Korean state news agency Yonhap.
Most of the deceased were in the back of the plane, in which the bulk of the passengers – except for two Thais— He was of South Korean nationality. The two survivors are being treated at a hospital in Mokpo, and their lives are initially not in danger but one of them has suffered spinal fractures that make doctors fear the possibility that he may end up paralyzed.
The acting president of the country, Choi Sang Mok, who has traveled to the site of the accident after ordering the authorities to carry out “all possible efforts” in rescue operations and has promised that “the Government will spare no effort to support grieving families.
Furthermore, the president has declared a seven-day period of national mourning, which will begin to take effect on Sunday and will last until midnight on Saturday. Over the next week, local authorities will set up memorial altars at the crash site, as well as in 17 cities and provinces, including Seoul and the southwestern city of Gwangju.
public officials They will wear mourning ribbons as a show of respect for the victims, the South Korean Government added.
For his part, the CEO of the airline Jeju Air, Kim E Bae, has issued a public apology and conveyed his condolences to the families and friends of the deceased, assuming “full responsibility as CEOregardless of the cause.” Kim, however, wanted to point out that the plane underwent regular maintenance and at no time did the controls show evidence of malfunction.
A team of approximately 80 firefighters continues to carry out search and rescue operations in the area of the incident. However, given the extent of the plane’s destruction, they are finding it difficult to identify all of the deceased. “We are in the process of recovering the remains, which will take time“, they have reported.
One of the worst disasters in its history
This Sunday’s accident is one of the worst civil aviation disasters in South Korea. In 1997, a Korean Airlines plane crashed on the island of Guam in an accident that claimed the lives of 229 people.
It also occurs in a critical political moment for the countrystill in turmoil after the failed declaration of martial law promulgated at the beginning of the month by former President Yoon Suk Yeol, deposed by Parliament.
Since then the country has seen two more heads of state but the process is still far from over because the Constitutional Court It still does not have the necessary magistrates to fully carry out the dismissals.
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