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22-04-2025 Vol 19

Bird hit, belly landing, explosion: How South Korea plane crash happened


Dec 29, 2024 01:04 PM IST

The incident occurred when Jeju Air flight 7C2216, carrying 175 passengers and six crew on a flight from Bangkok, was landing around 9am.

A South Korean passenger plane crashed into a wall on landing at the country’s Muan International Airport and exploded, resulting in the presumed death of 179 passengers and as only two people were reported to have made out alive.

South Korean soldiers search for missing passengers near the wreckage of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft after the plane crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on December 29, 2024. (AFP)

The incident occurred when Jeju Air flight 7C2216, carrying 175 passengers and six crew on a flight from Bangkok, was landing around 9 am (local time). Follow LIVE updates.

Visuals from the crash site showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane. Two people – a man and a woman – were found alive and are undergoing treatment. Authorities have presumed 179 passengers as dead.

In this photo provided by South Korea's Muan Fire Station, a passenger plane is in flames at the Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (South Korea's Muan Fire Station via AP)(AP)
In this photo provided by South Korea’s Muan Fire Station, a passenger plane is in flames at the Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (South Korea’s Muan Fire Station via AP)(AP)

It is the deadliest air accident involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, according to ministry data.

South Korea plane crash: Here’s what happened

  • Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors behind the incident.
  • Officials also suspect a landing gear failure, possibly due to a bird strike, may have caused the accident.
  • The control tower had issued a bird strike warning and shortly afterward the pilots declared mayday, Reuters reported, citing a transport ministry official who did not specify whether the flight said it struck any birds.

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