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Dozens of people died on Sunday when a passenger jet crash-landed at an
airport in southwestern South Korea, with the aircraft skidding down the
runway on its belly before bursting into flames.

At least 122 people have been confirmed dead so far, according to the
local fire department. Two people, both crew members, were pulled alive
from the wreckage however rescuers warned chances finding other survivors
are slim.

Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 from Bangkok was carrying 175 passengers and six
crew when disaster struck at the airport in Muan county, just after 9 a.m. local time Sunday (7 p.m. ET Saturday).

It is the deadliest aviation disaster to hit South Korea since 1997, when
a Korean Airlines Boeing 747 crashed in the Guam jungle, with the loss of
228 lives.

The chief executive of Jeju Air, South KoreaÆs largest low-cost carrier,
said the aircraft had shown ôno signs of issuesö prior to SundayÆs
accident.

HereÆs what to know:

Search for a cause: Both local fire officials and aviation experts say
some sort of landing gear malfunction was likely. Lee Jeong-hyun, the head
of the Muan Fire Department, also briefed the media saying that the cause
was ôestimated to be the occurrence of a bird strike or bad weather.ö

Mayday call: The planeÆs pilot made a mayday call to the control tower
about a minute after acceding to controllersÆ request to change landing
runways to avoid a possible bird strike risk, according to a briefing from
the Land Ministry. The plane hit navigation equipment on the ground before crashing into a wall.

One ôblack boxö found: The flight data recording black box has been
recovered by the accident investigation committee but the voice recording device has not been recovered yet, officials said. The ôblack boxesö offer aviation safety investigators critical facts when piecing together what happened after an incident.

Dramatic scenes: Footage of SundayÆs crash broadcast by multiple South
Korean news outlets showed the plane sliding on its belly at high speed, hitting an earthen embankment and erupting into a fireball. The video
footage showed neither the back nor front landing gear were visible as
smoke poured from the back of the sliding aircraft.

Passengers likely dead: The victims include 54 males, 57 females, and 11
people whose gender could not be determined, according to the South Jeolla
Fire Service. Two Thai nationals were among those on board, according to
the Land Ministry, while the rest were South Korean.

Strong safety record: US aviation giant Boeing has had a turbulent time in recent years, including two 737 Max crashes. But the plane involved in the latest crash, a Boeing 737-800, is described by analysts as a reliable workhorse of the skies with an extremely strong safety record.

Backdrop of political crisis: The tragic plane crash comes as South
KoreaÆs government faces a full-blown political crisis and leadership
remains uncertain. South KoreaÆs acting president, Choi Sang-mok, who has
only been in the job since Friday, traveled to Muan International Airport
where the plane crashed on Sunday.

Crashed airliner made mayday call after control tower warned about birds
in the area
By CNNÆs Gawon Bae and Lucas Lilieholm
The South Korean airliner that crashed at the Muan International Airport
on Sunday made a mayday call shortly after the control tower warned about
birds in the area, according to a briefing from the Land Ministry.

The jet initially attempted to land on runway no.01, when the control
tower warned that birds were in the area and a strike was possible. Approximately one minute later, the pilot made a mayday call to the tower.

The control tower instructed the plane to land in the opposite direction
on runway no.19. The pilot followed the instructions and the plane struck navigation equipment on the ground before crashing into a wall.

The landing attempt occurred approximately two minutes after the pilot
made the mayday call, according to the ministry. Authorities are
continuing their investigation.

One black box recovered

The flight data recording black box has been recovered by the accident investigation committee while the voice recording device has not been
recovered yet, officials from the ministry said in a briefing.

The flight data recorders or so-called ôblack boxesö offer aviation safety investigators critical facts when piecing together an incident.

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/south-korea-plane-crash-12-29-24-intl- hnk/index.html

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