Credit: Lee Geun-young
A video captured the moment a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crashed while landing at Muan international airport in South Korea on Sunday.
The footage, aired by YTN television, showed the plane skidding down the runway with its landing gear still up. The aircraft veered off course, crashing into a concrete wall at the airport’s edge before erupting in a massive fire.
Other local stations also aired footage of thick black smoke rising from the fully engulfed wreckage, which crash-landed at around 9am local time.
The flight, arriving from Bangkok, Thailand, was carrying 181 people, including two Thai nationals, when disaster struck on Sunday morning.
As of 11:30am GMT, authorities had confirmed 177 deaths, two survivors, and two missing persons.
Emergency responders believe that no further survivors are expected, placing the crash as one of South Korea’s deadliest aviation disasters.
The crash occurred during landing after the plane experienced a malfunction, with early reports suggesting that a bird strike may have caused a landing gear failure.
One passenger’s final messages, shared with South Korean media, described the situation. Their final message read: “Should I leave a will?”
The plane touched down without its landing gear deployed and was unable to maintain its course, eventually veering off the runway into the military port section of the airport, where it exploded.
The government has closed the runway at Muan international airport until Jan 1 for investigations. Authorities have recovered the plane’s black boxes, which are being examined to determine the cause of the disaster.
Jeju Air has expressed condolences and promised full cooperation with the investigation. Thailand’s prime minister has also offered condolences to the victims’ families.
