At least 167 people have died, according to the latest official toll, in the plane crash that occurred this Sunday in the southwest of South Korea. where a Jeju Air airline flight with 181 occupants crashed into a wall during a landing maneuver at Muan International Airport, about 290 kilometers southwest of the capital, Seoul.
The latest balance provided by the Fire Service will increase in the coming hours because the authorities consider 179 of the occupants of the device, a Boeing 737-800 from Bangkok (Thailand), dead. Only two people, both crew members, have survived the tremendous impact.
The South Korean Ministry of Transport has reported that the plane’s crew warned, five minutes before the accident, of a collision with a flock of birds that caused damage to the device, making it unable to open its landing gear. The aircraft touched down on its belly at around 09:03 local time and went off the runway until it crashed into the outer wall in a ball of fire extinguished by firefighters 43 minutes later, with the plane already practically destroyed. There were 175 passengers and six crew members on board.
“After the plane hit the wall, the passengers were ejected. “The chances of survival are extremely low,” indicated an official from the Fire Department 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 – were of South Korean nationality. The two survivors are being treated at a hospital in Mokpo.
The country’s acting president, Choi Sang Mok, who traveled to the site of the accident after ordering the authorities to make “all possible efforts” in the rescue operations and has promised that “The Government will spare no effort to support grieving families.”
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 CEO, regardless of the cause.” .
A team of approximately 80 firefighters continues to conduct search and rescue operations. However, given the level of destruction of the plane, they are finding it difficult to identify the deceased. “We are in the process of recovering the remains, which will take time,” they said.
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