There were dramatic visuals when a Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air crashed at Muan International Airport on Sunday morning. According to Yonhap News Agency, the incident killed at least 62 people.
In footage documenting the crash, the plane can be seen skidding out of control on the runway before exploding into a huge fireball. Thick black smoke erupted from the engines as it attempted to land, and the aircraft was engulfed in flames shortly after.
The plane’s attempted “belly landing” – a last resort used when the landing gear fails – is believed to have caused the crash. Initial reports indicate that the landing gear malfunctioned due to suspected contact with birds.
The incident occurred at 9:07 a.m. local time when a flight from Bangkok to Muan veered off the runway and collided with a fence at the airport, about 288 kilometers southwest of Seoul. There were 175 passengers and six crew members on board, most of whom were Korean citizens and two Thai citizens.
Founded in 2005, Jeju Air is one of South Korea’s leading low-cost airlines with a perfect safety record. The only notable accident occurred in 2007, when a Bombardier Q400 overran the runway due to strong winds at Busan Gimhae Airport, injuring a dozen people but killing no one.
A few days ago, another air crash occurred in Kazakhstan. An Azerbaijan Airlines flight caught fire, killing 38 people. Preliminary investigations indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to his Azerbaijani counterpart for the crash, but did not provide any further details, which may have been “external interference.”
