A Jehu Air aircraft with 181 people on board crash landed at an airport in South Korea on Sunday killing all passengers and most crew members.
The Boeing 737-800 was landing at Muan International Airport in the country’s south at 9 a.m. local time when it skidded off the runway and crashed into a wall causing a fiery explosion.
A total of 179 of the 181 people travelling Flight 2216, which was returning from Bangkok, were killed, including 175 passengers and four crew.
Just two survivors – both members of cabin crew – were pulled from the burning wreckage.
The passengers included 173 South Koreans and two Thai nationals. They were aged between three and 78, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said in a report.
Video ootage of the crash shows the aircraft landing without wheels, overshooting the runway, and crashing into the airport’s perimeter wall, before exploding into flames.
Officials have suggested that a bird strike and inclement weather played a role in the incident.
South Korean transportation department officials said the plane had run into difficulties approaching landing. The pilot, who had more than 6,800 hours of flight experience, pulled out of the first attempt due to bird interference.
Shortly thereafter, the pilot issued a mayday call and was allowed to land in the opposite direction to the usual one.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
