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Not less than 174 individuals have been killed on Sunday morning after a South Korean passenger jet crashed and burst into flames on touchdown, in response to native authorities, in one of many nation’s worst aviation disasters.
The Jeju Air flight was coming back from Bangkok with 181 individuals on board when it didn’t deploy its touchdown gear, skidding down the runway earlier than it struck a wall and was engulfed in fireplace at Muan Worldwide Airport within the south of the nation.
Two crew members have been rescued from the plane’s tail, in response to the nationwide fireplace company, however many of the passengers have been feared lifeless, officers advised South Korea’s Yonhap information company. Greater than 30 vans and several other helicopters have been deployed to the catastrophe.
Of the 175 passengers, 173 have been South Korean, whereas the remaining two have been Thai nationals, in response to the transportation ministry. There have been six crew members on board.
South Korea’s performing president Choi Sang-mok — who assumed workplace on Friday after his predecessor was impeached by parliament — vowed to “dig into the trigger [and] and take steps to forestall any recurrence of comparable accidents”.
“This can be a grave state of affairs. We are going to do our utmost to deal with the harm,” he stated from the scene of the crash.
Native tv information footage confirmed thick smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane, a twin-engined Boeing 737-800 jet.
The transport ministry stated the airport’s management tower had issued a hen strike warning a few minute earlier than the pilots referred to as mayday. The crash occurred 5 minutes later.
Ministry officers stated they’d retrieved the airplane’s flight information and cockpit voice recorders of their investigation into the crash. The pilot was a veteran with a flight report of greater than 6,800 hours.
Muan airport would stay closed till January 1, the ministry stated.
Jeju Air, a South Korean funds airline that was established in 2005, activated emergency protocols. “We provide our deepest condolences for the victims and bereaved households. We really feel nice accountability and can do our greatest to search out out the precise explanation for the accident,” the corporate’s president Kim E-bae stated in a televised assertion.
The airline stated the airplane, which was 15 years previous, had undergone common upkeep, and no malfunctions have been reported when it departed from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.
Boeing additionally stated it was in touch with the airline concerning the incident.
The 737-800 is a “subsequent technology” mannequin of Boeing’s 737 line of single-aisle plane, which has been a workhorse of short-haul air journey since being launched within the Nineteen Nineties.
It’s progressively being changed by the extra trendy and fuel-efficient 737 Max, though the Max has been beset by a collection of crises, together with crashes in 2018 and 2019, which have raised questions in regards to the high quality of Boeing’s manufacturing processes and security protocols.
South Korea has suffered a number of deadly plane disasters, though the nation’s security report has improved in recent times. In keeping with authorities information, South Korean carriers had 67 accidents in the course of the previous 10 years, which resulted in 59 deaths.
In 1983, a Korean Air flight was shot down by the previous Soviet Union, killing all 269 individuals on board. In 1997, one other Korean Air flight crashed in Guam, which killed 228 of the 254 individuals on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airways flight crashed because it ready to land in San Francisco, killing three individuals and injuring 187.
The catastrophe on Sunday was the second deadly airplane accident in latest days. On Wednesday, an Azerbaijan Airways passenger flight crash-landed in Kazakhstan after being diverted over the Caspian Sea from Grozny, killing 38 of the 67 individuals on board.
US and Ukrainian officers have blamed Russian anti-aircraft fireplace for the accident. Russian authorities stated heavy fog and a flock of birds brought about the diversion, however have additionally stated that it occurred whereas Ukrainian fight drones have been attacking close by cities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to Azerbaijan on Saturday for the “tragic incident”, however didn’t touch upon the allegations of Russian interference.
Extra reporting by Philip Georgiadis in London
