SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A passenger airplane burst into an enormous fireball Sunday after it skid off a runway at a South Korean airport and slammed right into a concrete fence when its entrance touchdown gear apparently didn’t deploy, in one of many nation’s worst aviation disasters.
Within the fast wake of the crash, the Nationwide Hearth Company mentioned the fireplace was nearly put out however officers had been nonetheless attempting to tug individuals from the Jeju Air passenger airplane carrying 181 individuals on the airport within the city of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul.
At the least 62 individuals — 37 girls and 25 males — had died within the hearth, the company mentioned at first. Emergency staff managed to tug out two individuals — one passenger and one crew member. It mentioned it deployed 32 hearth vehicles and several other helicopters to include the fireplace.
Footage of the crash aired by YTN tv confirmed the Jeju Air airplane skidding throughout the airstrip, apparently with its touchdown gear nonetheless closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the ability. The transport ministry mentioned the incident occurred at 9:03 a.m. native time.
A sufferer rescued from the airplane crash is transported to a hospital in Mokpo, South Korea, on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (Cho Geun-young / Yonhap through AP)
Native TV stations aired footage displaying thick black smoke billowing from the airplane engulfed with flame.
Emergency officers in Muan mentioned they had been inspecting the reason for the fireplace. They mentioned the airplane’s touchdown gear appeared to have malfunctioned. The transport ministry mentioned the airplane was getting back from Bangkok and its passengers included two Thai nationals.
It’s one of many deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation historical past. The final time South Korea suffered a large-scale air catastrophe was in 1997, when a Korean Air Traces airplane crashed in Guam, killing 228 individuals on board.
The incident got here as South Korea is embroiled in an enormous political disaster triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s gorgeous imposition of martial regulation and ensuing impeachment. Final Friday, South Korean lawmakers impeached performing President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, making Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok South Korea’s second performing president in weeks.
Choi ordered officers to make use of all out there sources to rescue the crashed airplane’s passengers and crew earlier than he headed to Muan. Yoon’s workplace mentioned his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, will preside over an emergency assembly between senior presidential employees afterward Sunday to debate the crash.
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the households of these affected by the accident by means of a put up on social platform X. Paetongtarn mentioned she had ordered the Ministry of International Affairs to offer help instantly.
Initially Revealed: December 28, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST
