A passenger plane crashed while landing at an airport in South Korea yesterday morning, killing 179 of the 181 people onboard, officials said. It was the worst aviation disaster involving a South Korean airline in almost three decades.
The plane, a Boeing 737-800, was operated by Jeju Air and had taken off from Bangkok. It was landing at Muan International Airport, in southwest South Korea, when it crashed around 9 a.m. local time. Two crew members were rescued from the aircraft’s tail section, but by yesterday evening all other passengers and crew had been confirmed dead.
Officials were investigating what caused the tragedy, including why the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned, whether birds had struck the jet and if bad weather had been a factor.
The crash is the first major test for Choi Sang-mok, South Korea’s acting president, who was appointed interim leader on Friday after the previous acting president was impeached. He said that the country would observe a weeklong mourning period.
