American aviation company Boeing on Sunday expressed its condolences to the families of the victims of the Jeju Air plane crash in Muen, South Korea. A Boeing 737-800 plane operated by Jeju Air, flying from Bangkok to South Korea with 181 people on board, crashed while landing at Muan International Airport on Sunday, killing all but two people who were evacuated from the wreckage. There is a possibility of being killed.
“We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding Flight 2216 and stand ready to support them,” Boeing said in a statement posted on its X account.
“We express our deepest condolences to the families who have lost loved ones and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew,” the company said.
-Boeing Company (@Boeing) 29 December 2024
The American aerospace company has seen tumultuous times over the past few years with a number of embarrassing safety blunders. Earlier this year, Boeing pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States for its role in two deadly 737 Max crashes. Although the Boeing 737-800 has been described by experts as a reliable workhorse, the aircraft has an extremely strong safety record.
South Korea’s aviation industry has a solid safety record and the accident was the first fatal accident for Jeju Air. The accident is being described as the worst civil aviation disaster in South Korea.
What we know so far about the accident
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft was reportedly warned of a bird strike by the control tower during its first landing attempt just after 9:00 am (midnight GMT). However, a few minutes later, the pilot issued a “mayday” warning, and he tried to land again, with a video showing him attempting a “belly landing” without activating his landing gear.
Dramatic video shows the plane skidding off the runway and spewing smoke, before it finally hits a wall and bursts into flames.
An investigation has been launched, but according to an AFP report, authorities suspect the accident may have been caused by bird strike and adverse weather conditions.
Questions were also raised whether the runway being too short caused the crash, as video showed the plane coming off the tarmac and hitting a wall. But an official told AFP this was probably not a factor. “The runway is 2,800 meters long and aircraft of similar size are operating on it without any problem,” he said.
There were a total of 175 passengers and six crew members on board. Rescue workers pulled two survivors – both flight attendants – from the debris. Till noon, the deaths of 124 people have been confirmed.
Officials said the other people had “little chance of survival”, adding that the plane was “almost completely destroyed” during the crash.
Meanwhile, a rescue operation is underway with hundreds of firefighters and other emergency responders, including the army, deployed in the area.
The accident occurred with the third president in a month of South Korea, which is facing political crisis. Acting President Choi Sang-mok, on his third day in office, called an emergency meeting with cabinet members to discuss the rescue operation and response and visited the crash site. They also designated the site a special disaster area.
