Korean plane crash killed at least 80 people
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At least 80 people died Sunday after a South Korean passenger plane crashed and caught fire on landing, according to local authorities, in one of the worst aviation disasters. Worst ever in this country.
The Jeju Air flight was returning from Bangkok with 181 people on board when it failed to deploy its landing gear at Muan International Airport in the south of the country.
Of the 175 passengers on the plane, 173 were Korean, the remaining 2 were Thai citizens, according to the Ministry of Transport. There were also six additional crew members on board.
Local television footage showed the plane sliding down the runway before crashing into a wall and bursting into flames. According to the country’s emergency office, the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned.
According to Yonhap News, the fire was controlled and two people were rescued from the rubble. More than 30 trucks and several helicopters were deployed to the disaster site.
KoreaActing President Choi Sang-mok arrived at the scene on Sunday and ordered a comprehensive rescue effort, calling on emergency workers to “do their utmost for the rescue operation, mobilizing all available resources ”.
An airline spokesman said authorities were still working to determine the exact cause of the crash.
Television footage showed thick smoke rising from the wreckage of the plane, a twin-engine Boeing 737-800 jet, after the crash.
Fire officials told Yonhap that most of the passengers were likely killed. In a televised news conference, officials pointed to bird strikes and bad weather as possible causes of the crash.
This is the second fatal plane crash in recent days. A passenger flight of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, after being diverted across the Caspian Sea from Grozny, in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya.
US and Ukrainian officials blamed Russian anti-aircraft fire for the crash that killed 38 of the 67 people on board. Russian authorities said heavy fog and flocks of birds caused the diversion from Grozny, but also said it happened as Ukrainian combat drones were attacking nearby cities.
Russian Putin apologized to Azerbaijan on Saturday because of the “tragic incident”, but did not comment on accusations of Russian interference.
