Seoul, South Korea:

A somber atmosphere filled with grief loomed over South Korea on Sunday morning as a plane carrying 181 people crashed and burst into flames, likely killing at least 179 of them. Inconsolable families and friends of the passengers hurriedly gathered at the Muan International Airport where the incident took place, looking for their loved ones. One such family of a passenger reportedly said they received a text from the person onboard, minutes before the crash, saying that a bird was stuck to the flight’s wing.

Another message pinged on their phone saying, “Should I say my last words?”

Many locals saw the flames in the jet’s engine and heard multiple explosions during the incident, reported South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

“I saw the plane descending and thought it was about to land when I noticed a flash of light…Then there was a loud bang followed by smoke in the air, and then I heard a series of explosions,” an eyewitness who was taking a stroll around 4.5 kilometers away from the airport, said.

Another witness recalled hearing the sound of “metal scraping” twice about five minutes before the crash, the local media reported. The man, then, saw the plane ascending after failing to make a landing, heard an explosion, and saw black smoke billowing into the sky – all within a couple of seconds.

The Jeju Air plane, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, was flying from Bangkok to Muan. It attempted to land shortly after 9 am but ended up crashing into a fence. Visuals showed the twin-engine plane skidding off the runway, crashing, and immediately bursting into flames. Within seconds, huge black smoke rose into the sky.

The only thing that gave away about the crashed flight was its charred tail.

In the videos, it appears the aircraft attempted a ‘belly landing’ (without its landing gear fully extended).

Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors that led to the deadly crash, officials said.

Also Read | Bird Hit, Gear Glitch, Belly Landing: Chain Of Events In South Korea Crash

More than two hours after the accident, smoke was still pouring out of the tail section and search efforts were underway for scattered pieces of the aircraft. Passengers’ clothes, luggage, and water bottles – most of them stained with blood – were scattered all over the site.

According to local media, two people, likely to be crew members, have been rescued so far.

While the oldest person on the flight was a 78-year-old man, the youngest was a three-year-old baby, reported South Korea’s News1 agency.

Reports also suggested that there were two Thai passengers onboard.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, in a post on X, wrote, “I would like to express my condolences to the families of the victims and injured. I have ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to urgently investigate whether there are any Thai passengers on this plane and what the current situation is. I have ordered immediate assistance. If there are Thai passengers, please contact their families to inform them of the progress and have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs report the situation at all times.”

Authorities have switched from rescue to recovery operations and because of the force of the impact, are searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, reported news agency Reuters citing Muan fire chief.

Jeju Air issues statement

Jeju Air issued a statement ‘sincerely apologising’ for the crash.

“We at Jeju Air will do everything in our power in response to this accident. We sincerely apologise for causing concern,” the airline said in a statement on its website.

The airline’s CEO Kim E-Bae, during a televised address, said that while the exact cause of the crash was still unknown, the plane had no record of accidents and there were no early signs of malfunction. “The airline will cooperate with investigators and make supporting the bereaved its top priority,” he said.

All domestic and international flights at the Muan airport have been reportedly cancelled.

Two quick-thinking passengers on a Colorado Springs transit bus averted a potential tragedy on October 14 when the driver collapsed due to a medical emergency, according to Fox News. The incident occurred around 7:45 am on a Mountain Metropolitan Transit (MMT) Route 1 bus travelling from Hillside to Hancock Plaza.

According to Fox News, as the driver fell from his seat, one passenger quickly moved to the front of the bus, while another rushed from the back to take control of the steering wheel. They safely brought the bus to a stop and contacted a dispatcher for assistance. At the time, only three people were on board: the driver and the two passengers, who acted heroically to prevent a serious accident.

Video footage from inside the bus shows the two passengers rushing to the front as the driver falls from his seat. One is seen holding what appears to be a coffee cup and is heard asking the unseen driver, “Are you all right?”

The other is heard radioing a dispatcher to report the emergency while stopping the vehicle at a bus stop.

“Dispatch, I am on No. 1 southbound,” the second passenger said. “Your bus driver is having a seizure. I am parking the bus.”

“He’s breathing, but the seizure seems to have stopped,” he said as the bus came to a stop.

MMT spokesperson Elaine Sheridan told Fox News Digital that the agency has the name of the second passenger who jumped into the driver’s seat but has not been able to reach him to get permission to disclose his identity. The other passenger left the scene before first responders arrived because he needed to get to work, she said.

“We have publicly requested that these passengers contact us because we would like to provide them with passes as a token of our appreciation for their assistance that morning,” Sheridan said.

Buxar:

Coaches can be seen strewn on both sides of the track, a few of these several feet away, in Raghunathpur, a non-descript town in Buxar district of Bihar where the North East Express derailed.

Four AC coaches, all of which have jumped the rails but remained coupled, form a scary serpentine pattern with shattered window panes serving as a telltale sign.

The guard of the Assam-bound train, Vijay Kumar, recalls having fallen unconscious from the impact of the derailment.

“I was busy with my paperwork when I realized that the driver suddenly applied brakes. This was followed by a few jerks, and I fainted. Later, I found myself in the adjoining fields, where villagers were sprinkling drops of water on my face,” said Kumar, who has sustained minor injuries.

With the rescue of passengers complete, the focus is now on restoration.

The entire area has been cordoned off as villagers watch gigantic cranes and machinery used for cutting through metal at work. They feel that, given the scale of devastation, it may be several days before the tracks are again fit for traffic.

Railways, though, insist that it will not take that long.

Mahendra Yadav, a 64-year-old resident of Madhepura district who was traveling in an AC 3-tier coach, recalled amid sobs, “It was an experience I may never forget. Suddenly, all of us started getting tossed off our berths by a force that none of us could fathom.” The elderly person is full of gratitude for local residents who had rushed to the spot and pulled out most of the passengers from the toppled coaches by the time the railway and other administrative officials arrived with assistance.

In an adjoining coach, Mohd Nasir and Abu Zayed, both residents of Kishanganj district, were fast asleep, perhaps enjoying pleasant dreams of a vacation at home, away from the hustle and bustle of Delhi.

As fate would have it, only one of them survived to witness the horror, which may remain a memory etched in his consciousness for some time to come.

“We had boarded the train on Wednesday morning. It was a tiring journey, and after having an early dinner, we went to sleep. The train would have reached Kishanganj early the next morning. Suddenly, I felt a jolt and got thrown off my berth. It took a while before I could understand what had happened,” said Nasir, with shock writ large on his gaunt, bespectacled face.

While Nasir thanked his stars for escaping with minor bruises in the accident, which saw virtually the entire train being thrown off the rails, his eyes turned moist as he recalled rescue personnel taking away the body of Abu Zayed, who is in his 20s, informing him that his friend was dead.

Ishalaur Rehman, a resident of Delhi, recalled how 10-15 people fell on him after a sudden jolt.

“I am lucky to have survived the accident with a minor injury to my hand. But what I saw was unforgettable. I boarded the train at Prayagraj for New Jalpaiguri. I was sitting on my seat, but suddenly, there was a deafening sound, and we were thrown from our seats. I could only hear screams all around,” he said.

“Locals took us to the nearby health center. Now, I am fine,” he added.

Twenty-three coaches of the train, on the way to Kamakhya in Assam from Delhi’s Anand Vihar station, derailed near Raghunathpur on Wednesday night.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)