Plane damaged in South Korea.
Seoul: The death toll in South Korea’s horrific plane crash has now reached 167. While other passengers of the plane are missing. There is a fear that the death toll in this plane crash may increase further. There were a total of 181 passengers on board the plane. This accident happened on Sunday at Muan Airport in South Korea when the landing gear of the plane failed while landing and suddenly it collided with the wall fencing. Due to this the passenger plane caught fire. At least 167 people died in this incident. The officers provided this information.
Officials said that this is one of the most gruesome air accidents ever to have happened in the country. The country’s national fire agency said that the rescue team is trying to evacuate people from the ‘Jeju Air’ passenger plane at this airport located in Muan city. There were 181 passengers on board the plane. The transport ministry said the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet returning from Bangkok and the crash occurred at 9:03 a.m. local time. The fire agency said at least 167 people died in the fire. According to the agency, the death toll is likely to increase as the rest of the people on board the plane are still missing nearly six hours after the incident.
The plane became a ball of fire after the collision
Rescuers rescued two people, who were crew members. Local health officials said he was conscious. The fire agency deployed 32 fire tenders and several helicopters to control the fire. According to the agency, about 1,560 firefighters, police officers, soldiers and other officials are also at the scene. Footage broadcast by YTN television shows the Jeju Air plane skidding off the runway and hitting a concrete wall. Videos broadcast by other local TV channels showed plumes of black smoke billowing from the plane. Muan fire station chief Lee Jeong-hyeon told reporters that the plane was completely destroyed and only the ‘tail assembly’ could be identified among the debris.
The reasons for the accident are being investigated
Lee said crews are investigating various possibilities as to the cause of the crash. In this, the aspect of collision of the plane with birds is also being investigated. Transport Ministry officials said their initial assessment of communication records showed that the airport control tower issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it landed and gave the pilot permission to land in a different area. Officials said the pilot had sent a distress signal before the crash. Senior Transport Ministry official Ju Jong-wan said staff have taken out the flight data recorder from the plane’s black box and are searching for the ‘cockpit voice recording’ device. Emergency officials in Muan said the plane’s landing gear had malfunctioned. (AP)
Latest World News
