The wreckage of the Jeju Air aircraft that went off the runway and crashed at Muan International Airport lies near a concrete structure it crashed into, in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korea will release by Monday (January 27, 2025) a preliminary report on last month’s Jeju Air plane crash that killed 179 people, the deadliest air disaster on the nation’s soil, the Transport Ministry said on Saturday, January 25, 2025.

One area under investigation is what role a bird strike played in the December 29 crash of flight 7C2216 as it arrived at Muan International Airport from Bangkok, according to a Ministry statement.

The report will be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization as well as the United States, France and Thailand, the Ministry said. Seoul has been cooperating with investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety.

It will take several months to analyse and verify flight data and cockpit voice recordings, which stopped recording four minutes and seven seconds before the crash, and communication recordings with the control tower, the ministry said.

At 08:58:11 a.m., the pilots discussed birds flying under the Boeing 737-800, then declared mayday at 08:58:56, reporting a bird strike while the plane was on a go-around, the statement said. Airport CCTV footage also showed the plane making “contact” with birds during the go-around, it said.

Also Read | South Korea to remove concrete embankment blamed for Jeju plane crash

Previously the Ministry had said the pilots issued the distress signal due to bird strikes before going around.

The jet crashed at 9:02:57 a.m., slamming into an embankment and bursting into flames that killed everyone aboard except for two crew members in the tail section.

The surveillance footage was taken from too far away to see if there was a spark from the bird strike but it “confirmed the plane making contact with birds, though the exact time is unclear,” a ministry official told Reuters.

Duck feathers and blood were found in both of the plane’s GE Aerospace engines, the ministry said.

The Ministry said it would conduct a separate analysis of the role of the concrete embankment that supported navigation antennas called “localisers”. The Ministry said on Wednesday that it would remove the embankment, which experts said likely made the disaster more deadly.

The wreckage of the Jeju Air aircraft that went off the runway and crashed at Muan International Airport lies near a concrete structure it crashed into, in Muan, South Korea. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korea’s Transport Ministry said on Wednesday (January 22, 2025) that it would remove the concrete embankment installed at Muan International Airport following last month’s Jeju Air crash, its deadliest domestic air disaster.

While investigators are still probing what caused Jeju Air flight 7C2216 to crash, including reported bird strikes, experts have said the massive berm that supported navigation antennas at the end of the runway likely made the disaster more deadly than it might have been otherwise.

Alson Read | South Korea says initial data extracted from Jeju Air crash black box voice recorder; all victims identified

In some of the first widespread reforms announced since the crash, authorities said they will make new foundations or other adjustments for similar antennas at seven airports including Muan and Jeju International Airport — one of South Korea’s busiest — that are either below ground level or easy to break.

The decision came after reviewing the structures housing the antennas that guide landings at the airports across the country known as Instrument Landing Systems (ILS), or a “localiser”.

“Muan International Airport plans to completely remove the existing concrete and reinstall the localiser in a fragile structure,” the ministry said in a statement.

The December 29 crash killed 179 people, with only two crew members seated near the rear of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft surviving.

Video footage showed the passenger jet slamming into the structure and exploding after landing at high speed without gear down and skidding past the end of the runway.

The runway design has also been criticised as failing to meet safety standards, prompting authorities to extend post-runway safety zones that are free of major obstacles.

The Transport Ministry said it will ensure a 240-metre (787-ft) long runway safety area at all airports to meet all relevant regulations. The area at Muan airport was about 200 metres long before the crash.

Police said separately that Son Chang-wan, the former president of the state-run Korea Airports Corporation who was in office when the structure at Muan airport was renovated, was found dead in his home on Tuesday of an apparent suicide.

“Son was not under investigation over the plane crash and had not been summoned for questioning over it,” a police official said.

A shutdown of Muan airport has been extended until April 18, the transport ministry said on Saturday.

South Korea was reeling Monday from the loss of 179 people after a Jeju Air plane crash-landed and burst into flames, with a team of US investigators joining local authorities to probe possible causes.

The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea when it crashed on arrival Sunday, killing everyone aboard — save two flight attendants pulled from the twisted wreckage of the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil. 

Officials have cited a bird strike as a likely cause of the crash, which flung passengers from the plane and left it “almost completely destroyed”, according to fire officials.

Video showed Jeju Air Flight 2216 landing on its belly at Muan International Airport, skidding off the runway as smoke streamed out from the engines, before crashing into a wall and exploding in flames.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Sunday that it would lead a team of investigators, including from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), to join officials in South Korea in probing what caused the crash. The country has a solid air safety record.

Both black boxes — the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder — have been found.

One of the flight attendants who survived was awake in hospital and able to communicate late Sunday, the Yonhap news agency reported. 

“When I woke up, I had already been rescued,” the 33-year-old told doctors, according to the hospital.

He suffered multiple fractures, while the other crew member — a 25-year-old woman — injured her ankle and head, Yonhap reported.

Inside the airport terminal late Sunday, tearful family members gathered to wait for news.

An official called out the names of 65 victims who have been identified, with each name triggering fresh cries of grief. 

Under floodlights, rescue workers used a giant yellow crane to lift the burned-out fuselage of the orange-and-white aircraft on the runway at Muan — some 288 kilometres (about 180 miles) southwest of Seoul.

Bits of plane seats and luggage were strewn across the field next to the runway, not far from the charred tail.

All of the passengers were Korean apart from two Thais, a three-year-old and a 78-year-old, authorities said.

“I had a son on board that plane,” an elderly man waiting in the airport lounge, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

“My younger sister went to heaven today,” a 65-year-old woman, who gave only her surname Jo, told AFP.

Authorities said they were working to complete the identification of all victims.

Minutes before the crash, the control tower had issued a warning of a bird strike, with the pilot soon after making a “mayday” distress call.

Video shows the plane coming off the tarmac and hitting a wall, but officials dismissed speculation that the length of the runway might be a factor in the crash.

Low-cost carrier Jeju Air said it “sincerely” apologised, with top officials shown bowing deeply at a press conference in Seoul.

Boeing said that it was in touch with Jeju Air and stood “ready to support them”.

South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok, who took office only on Friday, convened an emergency cabinet meeting and then visited the crash site at Muan.

US President Joe Biden led a wave of global condolences, saying he was “deeply saddened” by the crash. 

South Korea declared a seven-day national mourning period, with memorial altars to be set up nationwide.

It is the first fatal accident in the history of Jeju Air, one of South Korea’s largest low-cost carriers, which was established in 2005.

A number of fatal aviation accidents have occurred globally due to bird strikes, which can cause a loss of power if the animals are sucked into a plane’s air intakes.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A Boeing 737-800 aircraft, operated by Jeju Air, crashed at the Muan International Airport in South Korea on Sunday morning, likely killing 179 passengers onboard. The flight was carrying a total of 181 people, including six crew members. Two survivors – one crew member and one passenger – were pulled from the wreckage during an ongoing rescue operation, according to South Korean officials.

Footage broadcast by South Korea’s MBC network showed the Boeing 737-8AS, operated by Jeju Air and travelling from Bangkok to South Korea, touching down on the runway with smoke billowing from its engines. Moments later, the plane was engulfed in flames.

Rescue efforts continue as investigators work to determine the cause of the crash.

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