The Boeing 737-800 plane, which departed from the Thai capital Bangkok for Muan county in southwestern South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport’s runway, bursting into flames after hitting an embankment.

Only two crew members at the tail end of the plane survived the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.

About four minutes before the fatal crash, one of the pilots reported a bird strike and declared an emergency before initiating a go-around and attempting to land on the opposite end of the runway, according to South Korean authorities.

Investigators have found bird feathers and blood in both engines instead of just one as previously reported, a person familiar with the probe told media on Friday.

South Korea’s transport ministry declined to comment on whether feathers and blood were found in both engines.

The plane’s two black boxes stopped recording about four minutes before the accident, posing a challenge to the ongoing investigation.

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The Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder of Jeju Air flight 7C2216 stopped recording four minutes before the aircraft crashed at Muan Airport, according to a press release from the Korean investigation board ARAIB.

Yonhap News Agency confirmed that the black boxes had stopped transmitting at 08:59 am local time.

It was the same time that the Boeing aircraft had suffered a bird strike to the right engine, which may have cut off power to the entire aircraft.

The explosion occurred at 9:03 a.m. on Dec. 29, when the Jeju Air flight struck a concrete mound housing localizer equipment at the end of Muan International Airport after skidding without its landing gear open.

Damaged data recorder of the aircraft has been deemed irrecoverable for data extraction at the domestic level. The black box components were sent to the NTSB in Washington last week.

The Boeing 737 Next Generation was engineered antecedent to the Federal Aviation Administration’s stipulation for battery backups on the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder.

If the engines stop and no APU running then the data recorders stop, there is no cover-up.

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A Jeju Air flight 7C2216 from Bangkok carrying 181 passengers and crew crashed shortly after 9am local time (00:00 GMT) while attempting a landing at Muan international airport in south-western South Korea on Sunday morning.

All but two of the people onboard Flight 7C2216 are presumed dead, according to local fire authorities. Two survivors, both reportedly crew members, were pulled from the tail section and are receiving treatment for “moderate to severe” injuries at a nearby hospital. Rescue workers have retrieved 120 bodies; a further 59 are missing.

The Boeing 737-800 (registration HL8088) attempted a belly landing at about 9.03am local time after its landing gear reportedly failed to deploy. The aircraft was seen skidding along the runway before hitting the airport’s perimeter wall, breaking into two pieces at the front and tail sections and bursting into flames.

The cause of the crash is yet to be confirmed, though a bird strike and weather conditions have been pointed to as possibilities. Local broadcaster MBC aired footage that appears to show a bird strike incident as the plane was descending, and one of the two survivors reportedly told rescue workers that the aircraft had experienced a bird strike. Witnesses reported hearing loud “bang” noises before the aircraft struck the wall. Officials have also said weather conditions may have played a role.

Live view from the crash site

Investigators have recovered the flight data recorder, while the cockpit voice recorder is still being sought.

Among the 175 passengers aboard the flight, 173 were Korean nationals and two were Thai nationals, officials have said.

South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, has arrived at the scene approximately 300km south-west of Seoul and has ordered “all available equipment and personnel to be mobilised” for the rescue operations at the airport. ‘“No words of consolation will be enough for the families who have suffered such a tragedy,” he said at the scene.

Above all, we express our deepest condolences and apologies to the families of the passengers who lost their lives in this accident. At present, the cause of the accident is difficult to determine, and we must await the official investigation results from the relevant government agencies. Regardless of the cause, as CEO, I feel profound responsibility for this incident.

Jeju Air chief executive, Kim E-bae

It would be South Korea’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster and marks the first major casualty incident involving a low-cost carrier in the country’s history.

Friday, December 27 2024, the same Boeing 737-800 (registration HL8088) performing flight 7C8135 from Jeju City to Beijing declared an emergency and diverted to Seoul due to a medical situation on board.

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