Plane tragedy with 179 dead: South Korea declares national mourning, Jeju Air makes commitment

On December 29, the Jeju Air plane tragedy took the lives of 179 out of 181 people on board. Families of the unfortunate victims collapsed upon hearing the news.

South Korea is going through days of mourning after a plane crash that killed 179 people when Jeju Air flight 2216 made a belly landing, skidded off the runway, crashed into the airport fence and burst into flames.

The incident occurred at 9:07 a.m. on December 29 (local time) when a Boeing 737-800 from Bangkok (Thailand) carrying 181 people landed at Muan International Airport (South Jeolla Province, South Korea), about 288 km southwest of Seoul. Only two people survived the tragedy, two flight attendants working in the rear of the plane.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok of South Korea has declared seven days of national mourning starting December 29 to pay tribute to the victims. He has also ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country's entire aviation system.

According to Yonhap, this is the deadliest air accident in South Korea and the one with the most fatalities involving a Korean airline. Authorities said the plane was almost completely destroyed and the identification of the dead is difficult.

Authorities believe a landing gear failure, apparently related to a bird strike, may have caused the accident. The South Korean Transport Ministry said the air traffic control tower had warned the plane of the risk of a bird strike before the accident.

Investigators have also recovered the flight data recorder and are searching for the cockpit voice recorder. There were two pilots in the cockpit at the time of the accident. The captain had 6,823 hours of flight experience while the first officer had approximately 1,650 hours.

The Guardian quoted experts as saying that the Korean aviation industry has a high safety record and this is the first fatal accident that Jeju Air, one of the largest low-cost airlines in Korea, has encountered since its establishment in 2005.

A day after the tragic accident, another Jeju Air passenger plane also suffered an unspecified problem related to its landing gear. Flight 7C101, which took off at 6:37 a.m. on December 30 (local time), was found to have a problem with its landing gear shortly after takeoff. The crew decided to return the plane to Seoul's Gimpo Airport and landed safely at 7:25 a.m. the same day, Yonhap quoted an unnamed source.

According to the source, the affected flight was a Boeing 737-800, and had a landing gear failure similar to the one that crashed the day before at Muan International Airport, killing 179 people. Currently, Jeju Air representatives have not commented on the above information.

According to JoongAng Daily, the crashed plane was insured for up to $1 billion. Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae said the airline is committed to "spending no expense to support and compensate the victims and their families" based on the $1 billion insurance package.

Jeju Air's chief operating officer Song Kyung-hoon also said that Jeju Air is committed to providing options such as refunds or cancellations for upcoming flights, depending on the needs of passengers. In the last trading session (December 27) before the accident, Jeju Air shares fell 1.2% to 8,210 won (equivalent to 5.56 USD). The capitalization reached nearly 450 million USD.

Jeju Air shares could fall sharply next week. In the past, many airlines have seen their shares plummet after plane crashes. However, the declines were not too deep and most stocks recovered afterward.

Korean Airplane Crash: Damaged "Black Box" Impedes Investigation, New Evidence Appears Hướng Dương17:20:43 31/12/2024The Jeju Air plane crash in South Korea has seen a new development, with a key part of the flight data recorder (FDR) missing. This could slow down the investigation.