Jeju Air plane crash in South Korea: What we know about it

Firefighters and rescue personnel work near the wreckage of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft after the plane crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on December 29, 2024. | Photo by JUNG YEON-JE / AFP

SEOUL, South Korea — A Jeju Air plane flying from Bangkok to South Korea with 181 people on board crashed on landing Sunday, killing 179 with just two people plucked alive from the wreckage.

Here’s what we know so far.

What happened?

A Boeing 737-800 aircraft belonging to low-cost carrier Jeju Air, flying from Bangkok to Muan airport, was warned of a bird strike by the control tower, officials said, during its first attempt at landing shortly after 9:00 am (0000 GMT).

Minutes later, the pilot issued a “mayday” warning and tried to land again. Video showed the plane, its landing gear still retracted, attempting a belly landing.

Dramatic video shows the plane skidding along the runway with smoke trailing behind until it slams into a wall at the end and bursts into flames.

READ MORE:

Jeju Air plane crash: 179 feared dead, only 2 survivors

Jeju Air ‘sincerely apologizes’ after fatal S. Korea plane crash

All but 2 feared dead after South Korea plane crashes with 181 aboard

All but two are killed

All 175 passengers and four of the six crew members onboard were killed.

The passengers were all Korean apart from two Thais, a three-year-old and a 78-year-old, authorities said.

Rescue workers plucked two survivors — flight attendants aged 25 and 33 — from the wreckage.

This photo shows an abnormal flame coming out of the right engine of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft as it comes to land before crashing and bursting into flames at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on December 29, 2024. | Photo by YONHAP / AFP

What caused the accident?

Investigations have been launched, but officials are focusing on a possible bird strike and poor weather.

“It really has to be a series of catastrophic events that led to such a high loss of life,” aviation consultant Philip Butterworth-Hayes told AFP.

“Crash protection systems on board are extremely robust,” he said, describing the disaster as “the most serious incident I’ve seen” in recent years.

When asked whether the runway might be too short, one official said this was likely not a factor.

“The runway is 2,800 metres long,” or 9,200 feet, “and similar-sized aircraft have been operating on it without issues,” the official said.

Both black boxes — the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder — have been recovered, deputy transport minister Joo Jong-wan said.

A firefighter and a dog work near the scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on December 29, 2024. | Photo by YONHAP / AFP

What is a bird strike?

A bird strike — a collision between a bird and an aircraft in flight — can be hazardous to aircraft. Jets can lose power if birds are sucked into their air intakes, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN agency.

Bird strikes have caused a number of fatal accidents globally.

“We’re looking at substantial birds hitting an engine, and that is, as we know, very rare,” said Butterworth-Hayes.

He mentioned the famous “Miracle on the Hudson” incident in 2009, when a US Airways Airbus A320 was forced to ditch in New York’s Hudson River after a bird strike damaged both of its engines. All aboard managed to escape.

The tail section of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft is seen beside rescue personnel after the plane crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on December 29, 2024. Photo by YONHAP / AFP

Rescue operation

Hundreds of firefighters and other emergency responders, including military, were deployed to the Muan airport area, with the country’s acting president designating the site a special disaster zone.

Family members, many crying in despair, waited on the airport’s first floor.

Government response

The accident occurred with South Korea in the throes of a political crisis that began when then-president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law on December 3, days before being impeached.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok, on his third day in office, convened an emergency meeting with cabinet members Sunday and visited the crash scene.

Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae (3rd-R) and other executive members bow in apology ahead of a briefing in Seoul on December 29, 2024, after a Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea crashed and burst into flames on arrival at Muan International Airport. | Photo by YONHAP / AFP

Aviation safety record

South Korea’s aviation industry has a solid safety record and the crash was the first fatal accident for Jeju Air.

On August 12, 2007, strong winds caused a Jeju Air-operated Bombardier Q400 carrying 74 passengers to veer off the runway at another southern airport, Busan-Gimhae. A dozen people were injured.

Before Sunday, the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil took place on April 15, 2002, when an Air China Boeing 767 traveling from Beijing hit a hill near Busan-Gimhae, resulting in 129 deaths.

The most recent fatal crash of a South Korean airline happened in San Francisco, California on July 6, 2013. Asiana Airlines’ Boeing 777 aircraft missed its landing, leaving three dead and 182 hurt.

The deadliest disaster to hit a South Korean airline goes back to September 1, 1983, when a Soviet fighter jet shot down a Boeing 747, which Moscow claimed was mistaken for a spy plane.

All 23 crew and 246 passengers aboard the Korean Air flight — a New York-to-Seoul flight via Anchorage, Alaska — were killed.