South Korea’s transport ministry said investigators have completed extracting data from one of the black boxes of the Jeju Air plane that crashed on Sunday.
The data from the cockpit voice recorder will now be converted into an audio file, while the second black box – the flight data recorder – will be sent to the US for analysis.
Investigators hope data from the flight and voice recorders will provide insight into the key moments leading up to the tragedy.
About 179 people were killed when the plane crashed into a structure and exploded, the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil.
Investigators say it is not possible to locally decode the flight data recorder, which was damaged in the crash and is missing a key connector.
South Korean experts will be involved in the analysis process in the US, he said, adding that he is in discussions with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) about when to hand over the flight data recorder. .
The NTSB has deployed authorities to the crash site in South Korea’s Muan County to help investigate the cause of the plane crash.
The Boeing 737-800 was traveling from Bangkok when it crash-landed at Moan International Airport on Sunday and slid into a wall at the end of the runway, bursting into flames and killing all but two crew members on board. All persons were killed.
Many questions remain unanswered and investigators are looking into the role that bird strikes or weather conditions may have played.
They are also examining the concrete wall at the end of the runway, which some experts say could have exacerbated the impact of the crash.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the passengers on flight 7C2216 ranged in age from three to 78, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Authorities have said two Thai nationals are among the dead and the rest are believed to be South Koreans.
It took days for authorities to identify the bodies through fingerprints or DNA – saliva samples were collected from family members – because many were so badly damaged.
But on Wednesday, Acting President Choi Sang-mok announced that all 179 victims on the flight had been identified.
New Year celebrations across the country have been canceled or reduced out of respect for the victims and their families, and authorities have declared seven days of national mourning.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi-bae said the airline is preparing emergency compensation for the victims’ families and will cover funeral expenses.
He also said that the plane’s pre-flight inspection found “no problems”. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
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