On the morning of December 29, a serious plane crash occurred at Muan International Airport, Jeolla Nam, South Korea, when Jeju Air flight number 7C2216 from Bangkok attempted to land but could not lower its landing gear.
The Boeing 737-800, carrying 181 people (175 passengers and 6 crew members), skidded off the runway. The plane hit a fence and crashed into some items on the edge of the airport before bursting into flames.
According to the latest update from the Korea Fire and Rescue Police Agency, at 9:00 p.m. on December 29 (local time), the Korean government confirmed 179 deaths in the accident and said that two crew members had been rescued. These two people were transferred to two different hospitals in Seoul after being treated at hospitals near the airport.
According to Yonhap news agency, the crashed plane may have collided with a bird, causing the landing gear to fail. The pilot attempted to land once before being forced to turn around because the landing gear did not lower as normal.
During the emergency landing, the aircraft was unable to slow down sufficiently as it approached the end of the runway and crashed into several structures at the edge of the airport, causing severe damage to the fuselage and resulting in a fire.
All domestic and international flights to and from South Korea's Muan International Airport were suspended following the plane crash.
Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok has ordered the mobilization of all available equipment and personnel for rescue operations at Muan airport. He is en route to the crash site - about 300 km southwest of Seoul.
Rescue workers continue to search for missing people in the wreckage of the plane.
Local police said they were coordinating with major hospitals in Gwangju to handle the casualties.
Jeju Air has activated company-wide emergency procedures and set up a support team for the affected families. Several flights to Muan Airport have also been canceled due to the incident.
The accident came just three weeks after the Muan-Bangkok route was re-opened as part of the airport's 17-year expansion of international services.
Information is still being updated as authorities continue to investigate the cause of the accident.
