A South Korean emergency official stated Sunday that investigators “assume” {that a} “fowl strike” or “deterioration in climate circumstances” prompted a aircraft crash in South Korea that killed 179 folks.
Local hearth station chief Lee Jeong-hyeon advised reporters in Muan that “the precise trigger will likely be decided by additional forensic and joint investigation.”
He was talking after the passenger aircraft caught hearth earlier within the day when it skidded off the runway at Muan and crashed right into a concrete fence. The Ministry of Transport stated the aircraft was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 that was getting back from Bangkok.
Some consultants, nevertheless, have solid doubt on these preliminary hypotheses, saying that uncertainties stay over the attainable explanation for the accident. In specific, observers highlighted the absence of touchdown gear seen in footage of the crash.
Airline News editor Geoffrey Thomas additionally questioned the obvious lack of emergency companies on the runway which can be often deployed if a stomach touchdown is predicted. In the occasion of a touchdown gear malfunction, firefighters often unfold foam on the runway.
The timing of the Boeing aircraft crash has additionally been referred to as into query. This week, two extra planes – one from KLM and one from Air Canada – needed to make emergency landings.
Boeing was lately embroiled in a security disaster revolving round its 737-9 MAX mannequin. However, the Boeing mannequin concerned within the crash, a 737-800, is without doubt one of the world’s most flown airliners with a usually excessive security report and was developed properly earlier than the MAX variant.
Of the 179 individuals who died in Muan, 85 had been girls, 84 males and 10 others whose gender was not instantly identifiable, South Korea’s hearth service stated. Rescue staff confirmed there have been solely two survivors, each members of the crew, who they delivered to security. Health authorities stated they’re acutely aware and never at risk of life.
Among the 177 our bodies discovered to date, authorities have recognized 88, firefighters stated. The passengers had been predominantly South Koreans, in addition to two Thai residents. Thailand’s Foreign Ministry stated its embassy in Seoul had acquired affirmation from South Korean authorities that the 2 Thai passengers had been among the many victims.
The firefighters used 32 hearth vans and several other helicopters to place out the hearth. Around 1,570 firefighters, cops, troopers and different officers had been additionally despatched to the scene, in accordance with the hearth company and the transport ministry.
Lee stated the aircraft was fully destroyed, with solely the tail meeting remaining recognizable within the wreckage. “As somebody who has seen the positioning, I can solely say that I’m unhappy,” he added.
Per week of mourning
Transportation Ministry officers later stated that their preliminary evaluation of communications logs exhibits that the airport’s management tower issued a fowl strike warning to the aircraft shortly earlier than it meant to land and gave the pilot permission to land. in a distinct space. Just a minute after the warning, the pilot despatched a misery sign, after which the aircraft overshot the top of the runway and slid by means of a buffer zone earlier than hitting the wall, officers stated.
Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok went to the scene in Muan and requested officers to make use of all obtainable assets to seek out the lacking and establish the victims as quickly as attainable. The authorities declared Muan a particular catastrophe space to supply help to the victims’ households and designated a week-long nationwide mourning interval till Saturday.
Yoon’s workplace stated his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, chaired an emergency assembly amongst senior presidential workers to debate the incident and reported the main points to Choi. Yoon expressed his condolences to the victims in a Facebook submit.
Jeju Air in a press release expressed its “deep apologies” for the accident and stated it could do “every thing attainable to handle the results of the accident.”
In a televised information convention, Kim E-bae, president of Jeju Air, bowed deeply to different high firm officers as he apologized to the grieving households and stated he felt “full duty” for the accident. Kim stated the corporate had not recognized any mechanical issues with the aircraft after common checks and that it could await the outcomes of the federal government investigation into the causes of the crash.
The crash was one of many deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation historical past.
The final time South Korea suffered a large-scale aviation catastrophe was in 1997, when a Korean Airlines aircraft crashed in Guam, killing 228 folks on board.
