The Jeju Air passenger plane, a Boeing 737-800 jet, had departed from Bangkok, Thailand, and had crash landed at an airport in the South Korean town of Muan.
News footage of the crash showed the plane skidding down the runway with its landing gear appearing to still be closed before colliding with a wall and exploding in a fireball.
Two crew members were found alive in the wreckage of the plane (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Of the 181 people on board the plane at time of writing only two have been recovered alive from the crash, both of them crew members, leading to fears that the rest of the people on board have perished.
South Korea’s National Fire Agency confirmed that at least 174 people have died in the plane crash – 83 women, 80 men and 11 people who were not immediately identifiable because of the fire.
Officials said that the tail of the plane was the only recognisable part of the wreckage remaining after the crash, and investigations are now underway to determine what happened.
The plane made an emergency landing at an airport in the South Korean town of Muan (Twitter)
According to Korean transport ministry officials, an early assessment of communication logs indicates that the airport control tower issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it landed and gave the aircraft permission to land elsewhere.
A distress signal had been sent out from the plane shortly before it crashed, while the aircraft’s flight data and cockpit recording has been recovered and will be studied as part of the investigation.
Jeju Air offered a ‘deep apology’ over the crash and in a statement the company said it would do the ‘utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident’.
Airline chief Kim E-bae said he feels ‘full responsibility’ for the disaster, and that the company had not identified any mechanical problems with the plane during routine checks.
The plane skidded across the runway and hit a wall (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)
He added that he would wait for the results of a government investigation into the plane crash and what caused it.
Boeing said they had been in contact with Jeju Air and would be willing to provide assistance in the aftermath of the crash, saying: “We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew.”
This devastating plane crash follows another recent tragedy where an Azerbaijan Airlines plane carrying 67 people went down in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, leaving 38 people dead.
