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At the least 122 individuals have been killed on Sunday after a South Korean passenger jet crashed and burst into flame on touchdown, based on native authorities, in one of many nation’s worst aviation disasters.
The Jeju Air flight was getting back from Bangkok with 181 individuals on board when it didn’t deploy its touchdown gear, skidding down the runway earlier than it struck a wall and was engulfed in hearth at Muan Worldwide Airport within the south of the nation.
Two crew members have been rescued from the plane’s tail, based on the nationwide hearth company, however many of the passengers are feared lifeless, officers instructed South Korea’s Yonhap information company. Greater than 30 vehicles and a number of other helicopters have been deployed to the catastrophe.
Of the 175 passengers, 173 have been South Korean, whereas the remaining two have been Thai nationals, based on the transportation ministry. There have been an extra six crew members on board.
South Korea’s performing president Choi Sang-mok — who assumed workplace on Friday after his predecessor was impeached by parliament — vowed to “dig into the reason for the accident and take steps to forestall any recurrence of comparable accidents”.
“It is a grave state of affairs. We’ll do our utmost to deal with the harm,” he stated from the scene of the crash.
Native tv information footage confirmed thick smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane, a twin-engined Boeing 737-800 jet.
All flights have been cancelled on the airport in South Jeolla province, based on native media. Jeju Air activated emergency protocols and arrange a workforce to help mourners.
“We provide our deepest condolences for the victims and bereaved households. We really feel nice duty and can do our greatest to seek out out the precise explanation for the accident,” the corporate’s president Kim E-bae stated in a televised assertion.
An airline spokesperson stated authorities have been working to find out the reason for the crash. In a televised briefing, officers instructed a collision with birds and dangerous climate as potential causes. The transportation ministry additionally stated it could study upkeep information for the plane, which was 15 years previous.
Boeing stated it was in touch with the airline relating to the incident.
South Korea has suffered a number of previous deadly plane disasters, although the nation’s security file has improved in recent times. In response to authorities information, South Korean flag carriers had 67 accidents over the previous 10 years, which resulted in 59 deaths.
In 1983, a Korean Air flight was shot down by the previous Soviet Union, killing all 269 individuals on board. In 1997, one other Korean Air flight crashed in Guam, which killed 228 of the 254 individuals on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airways flight crashed because it ready to land in San Francisco, killing three individuals and injuring 187.
The catastrophe on Sunday was the second deadly airplane accident in current days. On Wednesday, an Azerbaijan Airways passenger flight crash-landed in Kazakhstan after being diverted over the Caspian Sea from Grozny, within the southern Russian republic of Chechnya.
US and Ukrainian officers have blamed Russian anti-aircraft hearth for the accident, wherein 38 of the 67 individuals on board have been killed. Russian authorities stated heavy fog and a flock of birds precipitated the diversion, however have additionally stated that it occurred whereas Ukrainian fight drones have been attacking close by cities.
Russian Vladimir Putin apologised to Azerbaijan on Saturday for the “tragic incident”, however didn’t touch upon the allegations of Russian interference.
