…Another Forced to Return to Gimpo Airport Soon After Take-off on Monday
By Newsmata
It has now been confirmed that179 persons were killed on Sunday, (December 29) after a catastrophic plane crash in Muan International Airport, South Jeolla Province, South Korea, involving a Jeju Air flight carrying 181 passengers and crew. The Boeing 737-800 operating the flight overran the runway at Muan while attempting a belly landing. The crash was the nation’s deadliest aviation disaster in decades.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok has ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire operations, while authorities plan a separate check of all Boeing 737-800s, after the crash that claimed the lives of179 people.
Newsmata reports that the ill-fated aircraft took off from Suvarnabhumi Airport near Bangkok, Thailand, when the disaster struck. Video footage from the scene shows the plane attempting to land without deploying its main landing gear. The aircraft skidded violently across the runway, crashed into a barrier at the end of the runway and exploded, sending a pall of thick black smoke into the sky.
Emergency responders managed to rescue two survivors from the wreckage, according to the South Korean Fire and Rescue Agency. Both individuals, who were flight attendants – a man and a woman – were said to have been rescued from the tail of the aircraft and were in critical condition and receiving intensive medical care at a hospital in Seoul.
The incident has sent shockwaves across South Korea and the international aviation community, prompting investigations to determine the cause of the crash.
Newsmata.com.ng learnt that the planned check announced by the authorities of all Boeing 737-800 became expedient amid report of a passenger jet belonging to Jeju Air being forced to return to Gimpo Airport in Seoul soon after taking off on Monday following an unspecified problem with its landing gear.
The landing gear malfunction is among the issues being targeted by the investigation into Sunday’s crash.
Sang-mok, who was appointed president two days before the tragedy, said an exhaustive inspection was essential to overhaul the aviation safety system and “move toward a safer Republic of Korea”.