South Korea declares 177 passengers dead, 2 missing in plane crash

ANKARA (AA) – South Korean authorities declared 177 passengers and crew dead, two missing, and two rescued after a plane crashed at Muan International Airport on Sunday.

Earlier, officials of the Jeolla Fire Department, while briefing passengers’ families at the airport, said that “out of the 181 passengers, most are presumed dead, except for the two crew members, who were rescued,” Yonhap News Agency reported.

A Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air caught fire during landing after reportedly experiencing landing gear issues around 9:07 a.m. local time (0007GMT) in Muan County, 288 kilometers (179 miles) southwest of Seoul.

The plane skidded along the ground without landing gear and crashed into a concrete wall before bursting into flames with a deafening explosion, according to the news agency.

The twin-engine Boeing aircraft, returning from Bangkok, veered off the runway and collided with a fence before slamming into a wall in a fiery explosion.

It was the second deadliest incident in South Korean aviation history. The Korean Air plane crash in Guam in 1997 killed 225 people.

Footage by local media showed the plane skidding down the runway, engulfed in flames and debris.

Local authorities said that the control tower warned of a bird strike just one minute before the plane made a crash landing.

Two crew members were found alive in the tail section of the vehicle and were later transferred to a Seoul hospital.

Before the crash, witnesses reported seeing flames in the jet’s engine and hearing multiple explosions.