Local time on December 29, according to latest report of the South Korean Fire Department news, South Korean passenger aircraft collision fire accident, in addition to two people were rescued, the rest of the 179 people on board all killed. At present, the remains of all 179 victims have been found. The identities of 77 victims have been confirmed. This is the most serious air accident in South Korea in terms of casualties.
On that day, a passenger plane crashed into an airport fence after veering off the runway while landing at Muan Airport in South Korea’s Jeollanam Province. The passenger plane involved in the accident was Jeju Air flight 7C2216 from Bangkok, Thailand, carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew members, totaling 181 people. It is reported that the two rescued were both crew members.
Korea enters 7-day mourning period
Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Planning and Finance Choi Sang-moo, who is acting as the president, announced a seven-day mourning period from now until January 4, 2025, while presiding over a meeting of the Central Disaster Safety Countermeasures Headquarters.
On December 29, local time, Gwangju City and JeollaNamdo Province in South Korea canceled their scheduled New Year’s events one after another in order to mourn the victims of the airliner collision and fire.
The city of Gwangju, South Korea, held a meeting of the regional disaster countermeasures headquarters and designated the period from now until January 4, 2025 as a period of mourning, and canceled the New Year’s bell-ringing ceremony and the New Year’s sunrise-watching event scheduled for December 31st and January 1st, 2025, respectively.
Jangheung-gun in Jeollanam-do and other places also held an emergency meeting and canceled the New Year’s sunrise viewing event scheduled for January 1, 2025. It is understood that there were five residents of Jangheung-gun on board the accidental airliner, and Jangheung-gun decided to provide funeral support to the families of the victims.
Six minutes before the crash details announced
On the 29th, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation news, the accident investigation committee has recovered two “black box” (flight recorder) on board, plans to analyze the black box after the release of relevant information.
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation said that the Buan airport runway length of 2,800 meters, the accident is not due to the airport runway length is insufficient. The airport’s runway will be closed until January 1, 2025 at 0500 hours. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation also released a detailed timeline of the incident.
Accident timeline: (Korean local time)
- At around 8:57 p.m., the tower at Muan International Airport alerted the airliner to a flock of birds colliding with the airplane.
- Around 8:58 p.m.: The captain issued a “Mayday” emergency signal.
- At around 0900 hours, the aircraft attempted to land on the runway.
- At around 9:03 a.m.: The airplane landed on its fuselage without opening the landing gear, and eventually hit the airport fence and exploded into flames.
According to the Korea Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Committee on 29th, Jeju Air flight 7C2216’s two “black boxes” among the flight data recorder is partially damaged in shape, and the other cockpit voice recorder is well preserved.
Aviation Railway Accident Investigation Committee pointed out that usually “black box” interpretation work takes about a week, but interpretation of damaged flight data recorder may take about a month.
If the damage to the flight data recorder is severe, it may need to be handed over to the National Transportation Safety Board for interpretation, in which case the black box interpretation alone will take more than six months, which will certainly have an impact on the progress of the investigation into the cause of the accident.
The airliner took off in Thailand without abnormalities reported
CCTV reporter was informed that Thailand’s Immigration Department has mastered the information of the two Thai female passengers on the airliner involved in the incident, and is waiting for Jeju Air to officially confirm the list of victims.
In addition, the person in charge of Thai airports confirmed that when the passenger plane took off from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand, there were no abnormalities reported in either the airplane or the runway conditions.
The plane in question took off from Suvarnabhumi Airport at 1:30 a.m. Bangkok time on the 29th and was scheduled to arrive at Muan Airport at 8:30 a.m. Seoul time on the 29th.
Airline involved in the accident set up a special team to deal with the accident
The aircraft involved in the accident is a Boeing 737-800, which was shipped in August 2009 and is 15 years old. It is operated by Jeju Air, a large-scale low-cost airline in South Korea. The airline operates international routes to Southeast Asia and other countries and regions.
On the 29th, Jeju Air representative director Kim Lee-bae held a press conference to express deep condolences for the victims of the day’s airliner collision and fire accident, “regardless of the cause of the accident, have a painful responsibility”. The company has formed a special team to deal with the accident and will do its best to support the families of the victims. Jeju Air also said that it had taken out a $1 billion liability insurance policy for the accident airplane before the incident.
Boeing: in contact with Jeju Air over accident
This is the accident rescue site photographed on Dec. 29 at South Korea’s Muan Airport. AFP/Newswire
Boeing Co. of the United States said in a post on social media on Dec. 29 that it is keeping in touch with Jeju Air over the accident and expressed condolences to the families of the victims.
The Boeing 737-800 is a single-aisle narrow-body airplane, mostly used for short- and medium-range voyages, and is widely used by civil aviation around the world.
