A passenger jet carrying 181 people erupted in flames after going off the runway and hitting a wall at an airport in South Korea’s southwestern county of Muan on Sunday, likely leaving all but two dead, Yonhap news agency reported.
The accident happened at 9:07 a.m. when the Jeju Air flight veered off the runway while landing and collided with a fence wall at Muan International Airport in Muan County, South Jeolla Province, about 288 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
Except for the two rescued from the accident, all the missing people are presumed to have been killed, firefighting authorities said, adding that they were switching to search operations to recover bodies.
The authorities confirmed 85 deaths from the accident so far.
BREAKING: New video shows moment Boeing 737-800 plane carrying 181 people onboard crashes at Muan International Airport in South Korea.
pic.twitter.com/konxWBpnWy— AZ Intel (@AZ_Intel_) December 29, 2024
A total of 181, including six crew members, were aboard the plane that was returning from Bangkok.
Most of the passengers were Koreans, except for two Thai nationals.
Videos aired by local TV stations show the plane attempting to land without its landing gear deployed. The plane skidded along the ground, crashing into a concrete wall before exploding and being engulfed in flames.
The plane was almost completely destroyed by the explosion.
This incident comes right after the Azerbaijan air crash, where 38 of the 67 people on board – 62 passengers and five crew – were killed in the tragic incident.
Meanwhile, while not explicitly acknowledging Russian involvement in the crash, President Vladimir Putin has apologized for the “tragic incident” while hinting that Russian air defense systems could have hit it.
“(President) Vladimir Putin apologized for the tragic incident that occurred in Russian airspace and once again expressed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
“It was noted in the conversation that the Azerbaijani passenger aircraft, which was traveling according to its schedule, repeatedly tried to land at Grozny airport. At that time, Grozny, Mozdok, and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, and Russian air defense systems repelled these attacks,” the Kremlin said.
