Plane bursts into flames after skidding off runway at South Korean airport, killing at least 96

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s fire agency says 96 people have been confirmed dead after a plane caught fire while landing at an airport in the country’s south.

The fire engulfed the aircraft carrying 181 people when it skidded off the runway shortly after landing and hit a barrier on Sunday. The country’s emergency office said its landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned.

The National Fire Agency stated that a total of 96 people on board were found dead following the incident.

THIS IS A HATE NEWS UPDATE. The previous AP story is below:

A passenger jet burst into flames Sunday after skidding off the runway at a South Korean airport and crashing into a concrete fence when its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy, killing the as few as 85 people, officials said, in one of the worst aviation in the country. disasters.

The National Fire Agency said rescuers rushed to remove people from the Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people at the airport in the city of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry identified the plane as a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 and said the crash occurred at 9:03 a.m. local time.

At least 85 people – 46 women and 39 men – died in the fire, the agency said. Emergency workers pulled out two people, both crew members, and local health officials said they remained conscious. It said it had deployed 32 fire engines and several helicopters to put out the fire.

A passenger plane burst into flames after skidding off the runway at an airport in South Korea. (Source: X/@zenocis)

Footage of the accident broadcast by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding down the runway, apparently with its landing gear still closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall at the edge of the facility. Other local television stations broadcast footage showing thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the flaming plane.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, head of the Muan Fire Station, said in a televised briefing that rescue workers were still searching for bodies scattered by the impact of the crash. The plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognizable among the wreckage, he said.

Workers were looking into various possibilities as to the cause of the crash, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds that caused mechanical problems, Lee said. Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan separately told reporters that government investigators had arrived at the scene to investigate the cause of the accident and fire.

Emergency officials in Muan said the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned. The Transport Ministry said the plane was returning from Bangkok and that two Thai nationals were among its passengers.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed his deepest condolences to the families of those affected by the accident in a post on social media platform X. Paetongtarn said he had ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide immediate assistance.

Jeju Air expressed its “profound apologies” for the accident in a statement and said it would do “everything possible to manage the consequences of the accident.”

It is one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation history. The last time South Korea suffered a major air disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airlines plane crashed in San Francisco, killing three and injuring about 200.

Sunday’s crash was also one of the worst landing accidents since a July 2007 crash that killed all 187 people on board and 12 others on the ground when an Airbus A320 skidded off a the slippery airstrip in Sao Paulo and collided with a nearby building, according to the data. compiled by the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to improving aviation safety.

The incident comes as South Korea is embroiled in a huge political crisis sparked by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning imposition of martial law and subsequent impeachment. Last Friday, South Korean lawmakers impeached acting President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, leading Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.

Choi ordered officials to use all available resources to rescue passengers and crew before heading to Muan. Yoon’s office said his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, would chair an emergency meeting of senior presidential staff on Sunday to discuss the accident.