Anger and suffering in South Korea after the Jeju Air plane crash that killed 179 people

MUAN, South Korea – A passenger plane with 181 people on board skidded on the runway at high speed and hit a wall before exploding in flames.

Two crew members were rescued from the tail of the burning plane, but in the following hours on December 29, grim news reached anxious relatives at Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea.

Later that day, all remaining 179 people on board were confirmed dead, making the crash of the popular low-cost carrier Jeju Air the worst plane crash involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades and the worst on record. on South Korean soil.

Officials were investigating what caused the plane’s failure, including what caused the landing gear to fail and whether the plane was struck by birds.

As speculation swirled about the cause of the crash, hundreds of family members of the passengers endured the agonizing wait for news of their loved ones returning home from their overseas trip.

Wailing and screaming filled Muan Airport. A young woman comforted an older woman who was crying for her son. Two crying women embraced.

Officials said that by the evening of December 29, only 65 of the dead had been identified by fingerprints or other means.

A dozen bodies were so badly damaged that officers were unable to immediately identify their gender. They included a 23-year-old flight attendant and a 78-year-old passenger.

Jang Gu-ho, 68, sat stoically in the arrivals hall next to his teary-eyed wife after running from their home in the nearby town of Mokpo.

He said that five of his relatives were on the plane returning from vacation: his wife’s sister, her daughter, his son-in-law and two grandchildren.

“We are struck by lightning,” he said.

In a closed airport area, officials worked to identify bodies recovered from the crash site. When officials posted the names of those confirmed dead on the walls of the arrivals hall, people rushed to check the lists.

Particularly shocking

The disaster left South Korea in shock at a time when the country was grappling with a political crisis triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s unfortunate and short-lived declaration of martial law and his subsequent impeachment.

Vice Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, an unelected official, rushed to the scene to deal with his biggest challenge since taking over as acting president on December 27.

The plane crash was particularly shocking for the country because it had never experienced a major plane crash after a string of deadly plane crashes in the 1990s and earlier.

In the last major plane crash involving a South Korean airline, in 1997, a Korean Air jet crashed into a hill in Guam, a U.S. territory in the western Pacific, killing 229 of the 254 people on board.

The December 29 Jeju Air crash was likely the world’s deadliest since the 2018 crash of Lion Air Flight 610, when all 189 people on board died when the plane plunged into the Java Sea.

It also turned out to be the first fatality for Jeju Air, a carrier founded in 2005 and serving dozens of countries in Asia.

Kim E-bae, CEO of Jeju Air, bowed and publicly apologized for the crash. He added that the exact cause of the disaster was unknown.

Jeju Air Flight 2216, a Boeing 737-800, took off from Bangkok with 175 passengers and six crew members. All passengers, except two Thai nationals, were South Koreans. The plane was landing in Muan when it encountered trouble.

Footage of the accident showed the white and orange plane hurtling down the runway on its belly until it hit a barrier at the end of the runway, exploding into a ball of fire.

Local media cited witnesses describing the sounds of the explosion and published photos of large clouds of black smoke over the scene.

The plane broke into so many pieces that only its tail could be immediately identified, said Lee Jeong-hyeon, an official in charge of search and rescue operations at the scene. Two surviving crew members were rescued from the tail section.

“We couldn’t make out the rest of the fuselage,” Lee said.

Speculations

As the death toll rose, details of what happened in the final moments before the disaster began to emerge.

As the plane prepared to land, the airport warned pilots of a potential bird strike, said Ju Jong-wan, director of aviation policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Around this time, witnesses heard loud sounds that sounded like an explosion, MBC-TV reports. The channel broadcast footage showing flames briefly emanating from one of the plane’s engines.

The plane issued a mayday warning shortly after the warning from the airport and then crashed, Ju said.

The muddy tidal flats near Muan and much of the western coast of the Korean Peninsula are favorite resting places for migratory birds. Photos in local media showed flocks of birds flying near the airport on December 29.

Evidence indicates that the plane encountered a flock of birds during its approach, leading to the suspicion that the birds had been ingested by the engines, said Marco Chan, a senior lecturer in flight operations at Britain’s New Buckinghamshire University.

The damage could have caused a hydraulic system failure, which could explain the inability to extend the landing gear, Chan said in an analysis emailed by his university.

The plane’s wing flaps appear to have failed to deploy, said Keith Tonkin, managing director of Aviation Projects, a consulting firm based in Brisbane, Australia, who reviewed video of the crash.

This meant it was traveling faster than its normal landing speed when it hit the runway, he added.

Aviation experts say the investigation into the causes of the crashes could take years.

‘Speak up!’

When officials at Muan airport told the crowd that they had confirmed the identities of some people and announced their names, some began to cry.

Others became enraged and raised their voices in frustration: “Speak up!” “Print the names!”

In the hours after the disaster, people expressed frustration at having to wait so long for news about their loved ones.

“Let’s get a list so we can at least find a hospital!” one woman shouted.

People crowded around the official to check if their relatives were on the list of confirmed deaths. Some relatives gave officials at the airport DNA samples to help identify the bodies.

Temporary tents were set up in the departures hall for the families of passengers and the plane’s crew.

Cars were lining up in front of the airport to enter the crowded parking lots. Some parked on the sides of the roads leading to the terminal, and people continued to stream into the airport throughout the evening.

Six hours after they went to the airport, Jang and his wife were still waiting for their loved ones to be identified. MODERN

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