At least 179 presumed dead as plane crash-lands at South Korean airport

In a tragic incident, at least 179 passengers were presumed dead as a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800, which was returning from Bangkok with around 175 passengers and 6 crew members, caught fire upon crash-landing at Muan Airport in southern South Korea on Sunday, 29 December 2024.

Except the two rescued from the accident, all the missing people are presumed to have been killed, firefighting authorities said, adding that they were switching to search operations to recover bodies, Yonhap news agency reported.

According to initial reports, a bird strike may have caused the front landing gear to fail to deploy, causing the plane to skid off the runway and crash into a concrete fence and break apart. Investigations are ongoing to confirm the exact cause of the crash and to examine any other contributing factors.

Local TV footage showed thick black smoke billowing from the burning plane, with flames engulfing much of the aircraft.

The emergency office stated that rescue teams were working tirelessly to evacuate passengers from the wreckage, with 32 fire trucks and scores of emergency personnel on the job. Thus far, the national firefighting agency has claimed to have found two survivors — a passenger and a crew member; efforts to locate and bring out the others from the wreckage continue.

Acting president Choi Sang-mok has called for all available resources to be mobilised to save lives. 'All related agencies must mobilise all available resources to save the personnel,' he said in an official statement.

The tragic incident has left the nation in mourning as rescue operations continue amid challenging circumstances.

This is the second such incident in a week.

Earlier, on Wednesday, an Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday (25 December), killing 38 people, after diverting from an area of Russia that Moscow has recently defended against Ukrainian drone attacks.

As many as 29 survivors received hospital treatment in that incident.

Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 had deviated hundreds of miles from its planned route while travelling from Azerbaijan to Russia, ultimately crashing on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea. Russia's aviation watchdog indicated that that emergency situation might have been caused by a bird strike as well — while the US claimed suspicion of Russian air defences having into play.

As for this Korean flight, this is the first fatal accident in the history of Jeju air, one of South Korea's largest low-cost carriers, which was set up in 2005. Korea has thus far had an admirable flight safety record.

With IANS inputs