On December 29, a plane crashed at Muan International Airport in South Korea. The plane overran the runway and crashed. It is estimated that 120 people were killed.
Points of attention
- A tragic plane crash occurred during landing of a Jeju Air Boeing aircraft in South Korea, killing more than 100 people.
- The plane was flying from Thailand and had more than 175 passengers and crew members on board.
- Preliminary information indicates a possible failure of the aircraft's landing gear as a possible cause of the accident, which requires further investigation.
What is known about the plane crash in South Korea?
According to media reports, the crash occurred during the landing of a Boeing plane operated by Jeju Air, which was flying from Thailand.
There were 175 passengers and 6 crew members on board. Footage posted online shows the plane skidding down the runway with no visible landing gear and then crashing into a wall, causing an explosion, fire and debris. The cause of the crash has not yet been officially determined.
BREAKING: Video shows crash of Jeju Air Flight 2216 in South Korea. 181 people on board pic.twitter.com/9rQUC0Yxt8
— BNO News (@BNONews) December 29, 2024
Yonhap news agency reported that at least 28 people died in the crash, with two survivors. The condition of the other passengers is being determined.
An airport official told Reuters that rescuers were trying to evacuate people from the tail of the plane. South Korea's acting president, Choe Son-mok, has ordered a large-scale rescue operation.
Initially, 85 people were reported dead. Later, the death toll rose to 120.
Officials believe the crash may have been caused by a landing gear failure, possibly caused by a bird strike. An investigation has been launched to determine the exact cause of the tragedy.
Previous plane crash
As a reminder, an Embraer passenger plane operating flight J2-8243 crashed on December 25 near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan.
The Embraer was flying from the Azerbaijani capital Baku to Grozny, in southern Chechnya, when it veered off course hundreds of kilometers over the Caspian Sea. It crashed on the opposite shore of the Caspian. The nearest Russian airport in the plane's flight path, Makhachkala, was closed.
38 of the 67 people on board the plane died.
On December 26, a number of media outlets, including Reuters, citing informed sources with preliminary findings from the Azerbaijani investigation into the crash, reported that the plane was shot down by the Russian Pantsir-S air defense system.
