Airplane crash in South Korea: 179 dead in crash landing at Muan airport

Handelsblatt Airplane crash in South Korea: 179 dead in crash landing at Muan airport Kölling, Martin • 23 hours • 3 minutes reading time It is one of the worst aircraft crashes in years: a plane with 181 passengers crashes in South Korea - only two people survive. The images shock the whole country. There are initial suspicions about the cause - and many unanswered questions. A holiday flight from Thailand ends in tragedy: all 175 passengers and four of the six crew members died in a crash landing at Muan regional airport in South Korea on Sunday morning (local time). Only two flight attendants, who were sitting in the back of the plane, survived the explosion of the Boeing 737. The images of the accident shock the country. The plane belonging to the South Korean budget airline Jeju Air with the flight number 7C2216 arrived at the airport, around 300 kilometers south of the capital Seoul, at 9 a.m. The pilots aborted the first approach. On the second approach, they landed the plane, a Boeing 737-800, safely on its fuselage. But the plane barely braked, slid off the runway into a wall and exploded. A huge fireball was created. "After the collision with the wall, the passengers were thrown out of the plane," a firefighter told reporters. The chances of survival were extremely slim. South Korea: Interim president on site, airline apologizes South Korea's interim president Choi Sang-mok arrived in Muan just a few hours after the accident to personally assess the situation and promise help. "The government is making all available resources available through the disaster and safety center and has declared Muan a special disaster area," said Choi. "We will thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident and develop preventive measures to avoid similar incidents in the future." The head of Jeju Air expressed his condolences to the victims and also promised to investigate the accident. The causes have not yet been determined. Bird strikes may have played a role. According to the authorities, the tower at Muan airport warned the crew of the danger at 8:57 a.m. A minute later, the pilot made an emergency call. Chat messages from passengers also suggest a collision with birds and engine problems. One passenger asked whether he should now make his will, South Korean media reports. But that may not have been the only cause of the accident. The slight deceleration during the slide also raises questions. It is still unclear whether the plane was able to extend the landing flaps after touching down. Only the analysis of the flight recorder and the conversations in the cockpit could provide certainty. But a discussion about safety at the relatively small airport in Muan is already beginning. The airport, which had previously only been used for domestic flights, only began international flights on December 2nd. It is mainly used by low-cost airlines. Initially, Jin Air offered regular flights from Muan to Narita and Osaka in Japan and to Taipei in Taiwan, in addition to domestic flights to the South Korean island of Jeju. Jeju Air followed on December 8th with connections to Bangkok, Nagasaki (Japan), Taipei and Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia). The question arose in the aviation industry as to whether the introduction of regular international flights at Muan Airport was premature, reports the Korea Times. An anonymous expert said that the airport did not even have experience with domestic flights. The tight flight schedules of low-cost airlines such as Jeju Air could therefore have overwhelmed the airport's capacity. National crisis in South Korea continues Another open question is how the disaster will affect the management of the national crisis in South Korea, as the disaster has hit the country at an already explosive time. Parliament has suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol after he declared martial law in early December to shut down the opposition-controlled parliament. On Friday, his interim successor, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, was also ousted by the opposition majority in parliament. Choi Sang-mok has been the country's interim president since then. The left-wing opposition majority in parliament is arguing with the conservative ruling party about the speed of the legal investigation into President Yoon's coup attempt. The population is divided. There are demonstrations and counter-demonstrations almost daily for and against a quick and final removal of the president.