the final toll of a plane crash, the most serious in the country’s history, stands at 179 dead and 2 survivors

One hundred and seventy-nine people, out of 181 occupants, died in the accident of an airliner which caught fire after hitting a concrete wall at the end of the runway while trying to land without its landing gear at Muan airport, in the southwest of South Korea, Sunday December 29, according to the final report communicated by the South Korean firefighters. The identities of 141 of the 179 dead have been confirmed so far, according to the territories ministry citing investigators on Monday. The survivors are two crew members – a flight attendant and a steward – who were rescued from the plane. All passengers, aged 3 to 78, were South Korean, except for two people of Thai nationality. The country declared a seven-day national mourning and flags were flown at half-mast across the country to honor the memory of the 179 people killed in the worst plane crash ever to occur on South Korean soil. “As for the black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have now been recovered,” Deputy Transport Minister Joo Jong-wan said during a briefing. press. “The suspected cause of the accident is a collision with birds combined with adverse weather conditions. However, the exact reason will be announced after a joint investigation,” said Lee Jeong-hyun, head of the fire station in Muan, a city located some 300 kilometers south of Seoul. ‘Unlikely to survive’ According to the Korean Lands Ministry, the control tower warned the crew of a collision with birds. The pilot issued a warning message (mayday) before crashing two minutes later while trying to land. Striking birds in flight is a serious risk for pilots, especially with jet aircraft whose engines can quickly lose power, or even stop completely, after striking a bird. According to the South Korean Yonhap news agency, the Jeju Air plane, which was arriving from Bangkok, landed on its belly shortly after 9 a.m. (local time) due to a possible malfunction of its landing gear. A video broadcast by South Korean media shows the aircraft – a Boeing 737-8AS put into service in 2009, according to the specialized site Flightradar – then colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the periphery of the installation and being immediately submerged in flames. At the scene of the accident, at Muan International Airport (South Korea), December 29, 2024. LEE GEUN-YOUNG / LEE GEUN-YOUNG VIA REUTERS “The passengers were ejected from the plane during the collision with a barrier, which left them with little chance of survival,” a local fire official said during a meeting with the victims’ families. “The plane is almost completely destroyed and the identification of the people is proving difficult,” he added. Criticism of the airport’s architecture Despite the thesis put forward by the authorities, criticism is increasingly focusing on the airport’s architecture. Asked about the possibility that the landing strip was too short, one official said that was probably not a factor. “The runway is 2,800 meters long (…) and planes of similar size use it without problem,” he replied. Le Monde Mémorable Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Discover “Despite the emergency, the landing was remarkably well executed”, underlines for Agence France-Presse (AFP) Kim Kwang-il, professor of aeronautical science at Silla University and former pilot. But “normally, there is no such solid obstacle at the end of the runway, it is against the international aviation safety standards recommended by (…) the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (AUESA). The structure in question caused the plane to crash and burst into flames,” he says. The American National Transportation Safety Agency declared on X that it had formed “a team of American investigators”, including Boeing, to “help” the South Korean authorities. For its part, Seoul is examining its options to launch “special inspections” of its 101 Boeing 737-800s operating in the country, Joo Jong-wan, an aviation official at the transport ministry, told reporters. Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok chaired an emergency government meeting and visited the site during the day. The crash of flight JJA-2216 comes as the country is plunged into a serious political crisis triggered by the unexpected attempted imposition of martial law by President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was subsequently impeached. On Friday, South Korean lawmakers in turn impeached interim President Han Duck-soo and suspended him from office, leaving Vice Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over as president. the state. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In South Korea, political chaos intensifies with the disputed dismissal of the interim president Read later Another landing gear incident reported Monday Monday morning, another Boeing 737-800 from Jeju Air suffered a landing gear malfunction, already blamed on Sunday, and was forced to return to Gimpo airport in the northwest of the country, shortly after takeoff, the national Yonhap agency reported. A Jeju Air representative confirmed to AFP and said the company was investigating “the cause” of the incident, unable to say at this stage whether it was caused by the landing gear. The Muan crash is the first fatal accident in the history of Jeju Air, one of South Korea’s largest low-cost airlines, founded in 2005. On August 12, 2007, a Jeju Air Bombardier Q400 carrying 74 passengers was went off the runway in strong winds at Gimhae International Airport (Pusan), in the south of the country, causing around ten minor injuries. Plane accidents are very rare in South Korea. In May 2023, a passenger opened an emergency exit of an Asiana Airlines Airbus A321-200 about to land at Taegu Airport in the southeast of the country. The aircraft was able to land normally, but several people were hospitalized. The crash of an Air China Boeing 767 coming from Beijing killed 129 people on April 15, 2002. The plane hit a hill near Gimhae airport. At the scene of the accident, at Muan International Airport (South Korea), December 29, 2024. MAENG DAE-HWAN / AP Before Sunday’s, the last fatal accident for a South Korean airline was that of an Asiana Boeing 777 which missed its landing at San Francisco airport, California, killing three people and injuring 182, on July 6, 2013. And the deadliest disaster for a South Korean company remains that of a Korean Air Boeing 747 connecting New York to Seoul via Anchorage (Alaska), which was shot down by a Soviet fighter over the Sea of ​​Japan, causing the death of 246 passengers and twenty-three crew members on September 1, 1983. Le Monde with AP and AFP Reuse this content



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