Over 175 killed as plane crashes on landing at S. Korea airport

At least 177 people have been killed when a passenger plane caught fire after skidding off a runway and crashing at an airport in South Korea’s Muan city, the country’s National Fire Agency said.

The accident occurred on Sunday at 9.03am local time as the Jeju Air flight, carrying 175 passengers and six crew from the Thai capital Bangkok, landed at Muan International Airport located about 289km (179 miles) southwest of the capital Seoul.

The National Fire Agency confirmed that 177 people, 84 women, 82 men and 11 others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable have been killed, and two people have been rescued  both crew members. The fire that engulfed the plane has been extinguished, the agency said. Citing fire agency officials, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said that hopes are fading for survivors.

The agency reported that the crash is believed to have been caused by “contact with birds, resulting in malfunctioning landing gear” as the plane attempted to land at the airport.

Al-Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Seoul, said the accident has been declared the worst in history on the South Korean soil.

“Images which have been on the media here do appear to show the plane landing on its belly, skidding along the runway, followed then by a huge explosion,” he said.

“Eyewitness accounts have talked then about a series of explosions and certainly images that we have been seeing have shown a catastrophic fire,” our correspondent added.

McBride said only 65 victims out of 177 have been identified because of the huge fire on the plane.The South Korean government has declared national mourning for the period until January 4 over plane crash. The plane, a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet, was reported to be carrying two Thai passengers and the rest were believed to be South Koreans.Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has expressed deep condolences to the families of the crash victims.

Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has been ordered to investigate if Thai passengers were on the plane and to provide “assistance immediately”, the prime minister said in a post on social media.

One photo shared by local media showed thick clouds of black smoke coming out of the plane. Another showed the tail section of the jet engulfed in flames on what appeared to be the side of the runway, with firefighters and emergency vehicles nearby.

The country’s News1 agency reported that a passenger texted a relative to say a bird was stuck in the wing. The person’s final message was, “Should I say my last words?”

South Korea’s Acting President Choi Sang-mok, meanwhile, ordered “all-out efforts for rescue operations” at Muan airport. (Aljazeera)

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