A Boeing 737-800 with 181 passengers and crew on board crashed while landing at Muan Airport, possibly due to a landing gear failure. All but 2 crew members unfortunately perished.
By: Haotian
Published on: 29 December 2024, 10.32am
On Sunday morning (29 December 2024), a Jeju Air flight carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew, crashed shortly after landing at Muan International Airport (MWX/RKJB) in the south of South Korea.
The flight, 7C2216, was operated by a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 registered HL8088. The flight took off from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at 2.30am Bangkok time (GMT +7) and was preparing to land at the airport when the aircraft came into contact with a flock of birds, resulting in the malfunctioning of the landing gear, according to preliminary reports.
Videos surfaced online shows the aircraft landing on the runway without landing gears, flaps nor speedbrakes down, before crashing into a fence at the end of the runway shortly after. Photos of the accident showed a cloud of smoke billowing over the aircraft.
179 of the 181 occupants have been confirmed to be dead. The youngest passenger onboard the aircraft was 3 years old, while the oldest passenger was 78 years old.
Only 2 crew members were rescued from the wreckage. They were both conscious during the rescue and are currently being treated for “medium to severe injuries”.
According to reports, there were 2 Thai nationals onboard the flight, a 45-year-old female and a 22 year-old female. The rest of the passengers were South Koreans.
Both the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) of the aircraft have been recovered from the crash site.
The acting President of South Korea, Choi Sang-mok, has arrived at the crash site. He said the entire government is doing its best to handle the crash. He has asked for all resources to be deployed to deal with the crash. Several helicopters and fire trucks were sent to assist with the rescue.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed her condolences to the families of the victims involved in the crash, adding that the country’s Foreign Affairs department will provide immediate assistance to the two Thai passengers onboard the aircraft.
The Thai embassy in South Korea has made arrangements for the relatives of the two Thai nationals on the flight to travel to South Korea.
Boeing has also extended their condolences and said that it is currently in touch with Jeju Air.
The CEO of Jeju Air has apologised for the crash, and has mentioned that the top priority for now is to provide support for the deceased and their families.
Jeju Air has also posted a notice on their now black-and-white website: “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 first crash in Jeju Air’s 15 years of operations.
Project AeroFlight expresses our deepest condolences to the victims.
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