The plane burst into flames after skidding off the runway and colliding with a fence. According to the emergency office, the landing gear seemed to have malfunctioned.
Officials reported that a passenger plane erupted into flames on Sunday, December 29, 2024, after skidding off a runway at a South Korean airport and crashing into a concrete fence. This tragedy, which resulted in at least 179 fatalities, was triggered when the aircraft’s front landing gear apparently failed to deploy, making it one of the country’s most devastating aviation disasters.
The National Fire Agency indicated that the fire was almost extinguished, but efforts were still ongoing to rescue individuals from the Jeju Air passenger plane, which was carrying 181 people at Muan airport, located approximately 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul.
Emergency responders successfully extracted two individuals—one passenger and one crew member—from the wreckage. The response involved deploying 32 fire trucks and multiple helicopters to contain the blaze.
YTN television broadcast footage showing the Jeju Air plane skidding across the airstrip, seemingly with its landing gear still retracted, before it collided head-on with a concrete wall at the edge of the facility. The transport ministry confirmed the incident occurred at 9:03 am local time.
Emergency officials are currently investigating the cause of the fire, attributing the accident to a potential malfunction in the plane’s landing gear. The Transport Ministry stated that the flight was returning from Bangkok and included two Thai nationals among its passengers.
This tragic event marks one of the deadliest episodes in South Korea’s aviation history since the 1997 crash of a Korean Airline plane in Guam, which claimed the lives of 228 people on board.
Expert suggest Boeing quality issues could be the reason behind such crashes. The company was already running in losses and this tragic incident put another tension on their existing list.
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