According to latest reports, at least 167 people died in the Sunday crash of a passenger plane operated by Jeju Air - one of the country's largest carriers. This is the first such serious accident in this airline's nearly 20-year history and one of most tragic aviation disasters in Korean history.
175 passengers and 6 crew members were on board. Only 2 people survived the crash - crew members who were in the rear section of the plane during the failed landing. The remaining 12 people are considered missing, but although the rescue operations continue - the authorities have ruled out the possibility that anyone else survived the crash.
The town of Muan, where the airplane crashed, has been declared a special disaster zone by the acting president of South Korea.
As Korean news agency Yonhap reported, the cause of the crash may have been a landing gear failure caused by bird strike. The plane, flying from Bangkok, made two landing attempts at Muan International Airport. The pilots decided to abort the landing on the first attempt.
On the second attempt, as seen in the videos documenting the accident, the plane failed to extend its landing gear, didn't manage to decelerate after the emergency landing, hit structures at the end of the runway and burst into flames.
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Source: IAR, PAP