South Korea ordered a “comprehensive inspection” of all Boeing 737-800s operated by the country’s carriers on Monday after a Jeju Air plane crash-landed and burst into flames, killing all 179 people on board. .
US air safety officials and crews from troubled plane maker Boeing were arriving to join investigators probing South Korea’s worst air disaster on mainland China, which authorities initially blamed on a bird strike. He was held responsible.
The plane was en route from Thailand to South Korea with 181 people on board when it made a mayday call and burst into flames after hitting an obstacle before belly landing.
All aboard Jeju Air Flight 2216 were killed, two flight attendants were pulled from the wreckage.
Seven days of mourning began in South Korea, with flags flying at half-mast and the acting president flying to the crash site in southwestern Moan for a memorial.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok, who has only been in office since Friday, said the government was doing “everything possible” to identify the victims and support the bereaved families.
Choi, an unelected bureaucrat who became acting president after the impeachment of two of his predecessors, said there would be a “thorough investigation into the cause of the accident”.
He also said South Korea would conduct an “immediate safety inspection of the entire aircraft operation system” to prevent future aviation disasters.
South Korea has a solid aviation safety record and both of Flight 2216’s black boxes — the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder — have been found.
Civil Aviation Vice Minister Jo Jong-wan said authorities have so far identified 146 victims through DNA analysis or fingerprint collection.
“As far as the comprehensive inspection is concerned, a thorough review of maintenance records of key systems such as engines and landing gear being operated by 101 aircraft of the accident aircraft model will be conducted,” he said. are using.”
“The process will start today and continue till January 3, 2025.”
Monument
Families of the victims camped overnight at the airport in special tents set up in the airport lounge after a long, painful day waiting for news of their loved ones.
An elderly man waiting at the airport lounge said, on condition of anonymity, that I had a son on the plane.
At the crash site early Monday, a middle-aged man and woman peered inside the fence, where the remains of the plane — seats, doors and twisted metal parts — still strewn the field near the charred tail. were
The soldiers carefully combed the reed field next to the runway, which was busy looking for body parts.
The passengers, aged between three and 78, were all Korean except for two Thai nationals, officials said.
Low-cost carrier Jeju Air said it had “sincerely” apologized, as top officials appeared to bow deeply at a news conference in Seoul.
Another Jeju Air flight using the same model aircraft suffered a malfunction involving the landing gear and had to return to Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport shortly after takeoff on Monday, the airline said.
Jeju Air told AFP that the company’s share price fell as much as 15 percent on Monday, with upset customers also canceling about 68,000 flights with the airline.
Criticism
A growing chorus of criticism from experts analyzing the dramatic video footage of Flight 2216’s landing has focused on whether airport construction could have played a role.
Kim Kwang-il, a professor of aeronautical science at Silla University and a former pilot, said he was “quite worried” when he reviewed the video, which showed the plane making a skillful emergency landing but then hitting a wall.
There should not have been any concrete structures in the area at all, he told AFP.
“Normally, at the end of the runway, there is no such solid barrier – this is against international aviation safety standards,” he said.
“The structure in question caused the aircraft to crash and catch fire.”
“Outside the airport, there are usually only fences, which are soft and do not cause significant damage. The plane could have slid further and stopped naturally. The unnecessary structure is very sad.”