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, with the pilot issuing a “mayday” warning, it tried to land again, with video showing it attempting a “belly landing” without its landing gear activated.
Dramatic video shows the plane skidding along the runway with smoke trailing out, until it hits a wall at the end and bursts into flames.
Passengers, crew on board
All 175 passengers and four of the six crew members onboard were killed. Rescue workers plucked two survivors — both flight attendants — from the wreckage.
What caused the accident?
Investigations have been launched, but officials suspect the accident could have been caused by bird strike and adverse weather conditions.
When asked if the accident happened due to the runway being too short, one official said this was likely not a factor.
“The runway is 2,800 metres long, and similar-sized aircraft have been operating on it without issues,” they said.
What is a bird strike?
A bird strike is a collision between a bird and an aircraft in flight.
A bird strike can be hazardous to aircraft safety and jets are especially vulnerable to loss of power if birds are sucked into the air intakes, according to the UN agency International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). A number of fatal accidents have occurred globally due to bird strikes.
In 2009, a US Airways Airbus A320 famously ditched in New York’s Hudson River after a bird strike on both of its engines, in an incident widely known as the “Miracle on the Hudson” because there was no loss of life.
Where was the plane coming from?
The plane was flying from Bangkok, Thailand to South Korea’s Muan county, about 288 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of the capital Seoul.
Rescue operation
Hundreds of firefighters and other emergency responders — including military — were deployed to the area, with the country’s acting president designating the site a special disaster zone.
Families were waiting at the first floor of the Muan airport, with many relatives crying in despair.
Government response
The accident occurred with South Korea in the throes of a political crisis, with its third president in a month.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok, on his third day in office, convened an emergency meeting with cabinet members and visited the crash scene.
Aviation safety record
South Korea’s aviation industry has a solid safety record and the crash was the first fatal accident for Jeju Air.
A Jeju Air-operated Bombardier Q400 carrying 74 passengers veered off the runway due to strong winds at another southern airport, Busan-Gimhae on August 12, 2007. A dozen people were injured.
Before Sunday’s crash, the deadliest such incident on South Korean soil dated to April 15, 2002.
An Air China Boeing 767 plane travelling from Beijing hit a hill near Busan-Gimhae airport, resulting in 129 deaths.
The most recent fatal crash of a South Korean airline happened at San Francisco airport 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 more than four decades — when a Soviet fighter jet shot down a Boeing 747 above the Sea of Japan.
Twenty-three crew and 246 passengers aboard the Korean Air flight were killed in the September 1, 1983 disaster, as they were travelling from New York to Seoul via Alaska.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)