Grieving relatives of the victims of the tragic South Korea plane crash gathered at the crash site on New Year's Day to honor their loved ones. This somber event followed the extraction of data from one of the aircraft's black boxes, a critical step in determining the cause of the disaster.
The Jeju Air Boeing 737-800, carrying 181 passengers and crew, crashed at Muan International Airport on Sunday, resulting in 179 fatalities. The incident is considered the deadliest in South Korea's aviation history in decades.
Video footage of the crash shows the aircraft landing without its landing gear deployed. The plane skidded off the runway, colliding with a concrete fence and subsequently erupting into flames. The footage also points towards a possible engine issue in addition to the landing gear failure.
Furthermore, reports indicate that the pilot had received warnings about potential bird strikes from air traffic control, and the aircraft issued a distress signal prior to the impact.
Following the tragedy, the South Korean Transport Ministry has successfully retrieved data from the cockpit voice recorder, one of the two recovered black boxes. The ministry stated that this data will be converted into audio files for further analysis, while the damaged flight data recorder will be sent to the United States for examination.
The majority of the victims were South Korean, with two Thai nationals also among the deceased. Many of the passengers were returning from Christmas holidays in Bangkok.
The bereaved families' visit to the crash site on New Year's Day was an emotional one. They participated in a memorial service, laying white flowers and offering deep bows at a memorial table laden with traditional food.
Authorities have completed the complex task of identifying all 179 victims and have begun the process of handing over the remains to families.
In the aftermath of the crash, South Korea has initiated a seven-day period of national mourning. The government has also commenced safety inspections of all 101 Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by domestic airlines. A team of US investigators, including Boeing representatives, arrived at the crash site on Tuesday.
The investigation is also reviewing the design and placement of the airport’s localizer, an array of antennas placed at the end of the runway, which may have contributed to the severity of the impact.
