By Hyunsu Yim and Ju-min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) – At least 62 individuals had been killed on Sunday when an airliner skidded off the runway and exploded in a fireball and crashed right into a wall at South Korea’s Muan International Airport, the company stated nationwide hearth brigade.
Two individuals had been rescued, the company stated.
The crash occurred as Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew members on a flight from the Thai capital Bangkok, was touchdown shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) on the airport within the south of the nation, South Korea’s transportation ministry stated.
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The ministry didn’t affirm the stories of victims.
At least 58 our bodies have been recovered however the quantity isn’t ultimate, one other hearth official informed Reuters.
Two individuals had been discovered alive and rescue operations had been underway, a Muan hearth brigade official stated. Yonhap information company reported that three individuals had been rescued.
Authorities had been working to rescue individuals within the tail part, an airport official informed Reuters shortly after the crash.
Video shared by native media confirmed the twin-engine aircraft sliding down the runway with no obvious touchdown gear earlier than crashing right into a wall in an explosion of flames and particles. Other pictures confirmed smoke and hearth enveloping components of the aircraft.
Yonhap cited airport authorities as saying the touchdown gear could have malfunctioned resulting from a fowl strike.
A passenger texted a relative {that a} fowl was caught within the wing, News1 reported. The individual’s ultimate message was, “Should I say my final phrases?”
The fowl strike is one in every of many theories that haven’t been verified, an official from the transport ministry’s aviation division stated, including that the investigation was ongoing.
Among the passengers had been two Thai nationals and the others are believed to be South Koreans, in accordance with the transport ministry.
The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air, which was looking for particulars of the crash, together with victims and causes, an airline spokeswoman stated.
Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
All home and worldwide flights at Muan Airport had been cancelled, Yonhap reported.
Interim South Korean President Choi Sang-mok, who was named the nation’s interim chief on Friday after the earlier interim president was impeached amid an ongoing political disaster, has ordered all-out rescue efforts, his workplace stated.
His chief of employees referred to as an emergency assembly.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim, Ju-min Park, Cynthia Kim and Hyunjoo Jin in Seoul; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Gram Slattery in Washington; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and William Mallard)
