Plane crash kills 179 in South Korea as Jeju Air flight veers off runway

The Jeju Air passenger plane’s landing gear is said to have failed to deploy

Only two crew members have survived after a plane carrying 181 people crashed landed and burst into flames at a South Korean airport – the worst domestic aviation disaster in the country’s history

The Jeju Air passenger plane’s landing gear appeared to fail to deploy as it was seen skidding across the runway on its “belly” at the Muan airport in the southwest of the country before crashing into a concrete barrier.

South Korea's national fire agency said the 179 dead included 85 women, 84 men and 10 others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable. The youngest passenger was a three-year-old boy and the oldest was 78, while five of the dead were children under the age of 10, authorities said.

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Two flight staff – a man and a woman – were rescued from the tail of the plane and but their injuries are reported not to be life-threatening. The fire service added that more than 1,500 emergency personnel had been deployed to the site and a special disaster zone had been enforced.

Footage of the crash aired by South Korean television channels showed the Jeju Air plane skidding across the airstrip at high speed, apparently with its landing gear still closed, overrunning the runway and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the facility, triggering an explosion. Other local TV stations aired footage showing thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the plane, which was engulfed in flames.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, told a televised briefing that the plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognisable among the wreckage. Lee said that workers were looking into various possibilities about what caused the crash, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds, Mr Lee said.

People watch the news regarding the plane crash at Seoul station (Getty Images)

Transport Ministry officials later said their early assessment of communication records show the airport control tower issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it intended to land and gave its pilot permission to land in a different area. The pilot sent out a distress signal shortly before the plane went past the runway and skidded across a buffer zone before hitting the wall, the officials said.

The plane was returning from Bangkok and included two Thai nationals and 173 South Korean nationals, officials from the transport ministry said.

The cause of the crash – which happened at 9.03am local time – is still being investigated. Emergency officials said initial signs showed the plane’s landing gear likely malfunctioned.

According to the transport ministry, investigators have recovered both black boxes from the wreckage: the cockpit voice recorder at 11.30am and the flight data recorder at 2.24pm. Eight aircraft accident investigators and nine aviation safety inspectors were conducting initial investigations at the scene.

The crash was not due to "any maintenance issues", the head of Jeju Air's management team later said.

According to the Yonhap news agency, Song Kyung-hoon told a press briefing: "There are areas we have to investigate further by determining the exact cause of the crash."

He added that there is a schedule for maintenance checks and that they leave "no stone unturned" regarding maintenance work ahead of take-offs. The official also said that the company's insurance plan should be able to support the victims and their families.

Officials from the airline also expressed a “deep apology” over the crash and said it will do its “utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident.”

The carrier’s president Kim E-Bae deeply bowed with other senior company officials as he apologised to the bereaved families, stating that he feels “full responsibility” for the incident. He added that he would wait for the results of government investigations into the cause of the incident.

Boeing also issued a statement: “We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them. We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” it said in a statement.

It's one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea's aviation history. The last time South Korea suffered a large-scale air disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Airlines plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airlines plane crash-landed in San Francisco, killing three and injuring approximately 200.

Sunday's accident was also one of the worst landing mishaps since a July 2007 crash that killed all 187 people on board and 12 others on the ground when an Airbus A320 slid off a slick airstrip in Sao Paulo and collided with a nearby building, according to data compiled by the Flight Safety Foundation, a non-profit group aimed at improving air safety. In 2010, 158 people died when an Air India Express aircraft overshot a runway in Mangalore, India, and plummeted into a gorge before erupting into flames, according to the safety foundation.

The incident came as South Korea is embroiled in a huge political crisis triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol's stunning imposition of martial law and ensuing impeachment. Last Friday, South Korean MPs impeached acting President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, leading deputy prime minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.

Mr Choi ordered officials to employ all available resources to rescue the passengers and crew before he headed to Muan. Yoon's office said his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, will preside over an emergency meeting between senior presidential staff later on Sunday to discuss the crash.

Associated Press contributed to this report