At least 85 people were killed after a plane with 181 people on board crashed at South Korea’s Muan airport as it skidded off the runway while landing and burst into a fireball on Sunday, media reports said.
According to the Yonhap news agency, the crash was reported in the South Jeolla province when the Jeju Air flight 2216 was arriving from Thailand.
Among the 181 on board, 175 were passengers and six were flight crew.
Emergency services were pressed into action at the airport around 9 am after the aircraft crashed into a fence and burst into flames following a failed belly landing attempt.
Authorities rescued two people and continued evacuating passengers from the Boeing 737-800’s rear section.
Captured footage showed the plane hurtling into the wall and then erupting. Visuals showed black smoke rising above the crash site.
The crash is believed to have been caused by “contact with birds, resulting in malfunctioning landing gear”, said reports.
BREAKING: Crash of Jeju Air Flight 2216 in South Korea caught on video pic.twitter.com/r49Wz6OMfh
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) December 29, 2024
Acting President Choi Sang-mok called for the mobilisation of all resources to save the passengers. “All related agencies must mobilise all available resources to save the personnel,” he instructed officials in a statement.
Jeju Air in a statement said: “We deeply apologize to all those affected by the incident at Muan Airport.
We will make every effort to resolve the situation. We sincerely regret the distress caused.”
This is the second air crash within a week after an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane crashed on Wednesday in Kazakhstan, claiming 38 lives.
Azerbaijan Airlines’ Flight J2-8243 crashed and caught fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from southern Russia where Ukrainian drones were reported to be attacking several cities.
