On Sunday, December 29, 2024, a major air disaster occurred involving a Jeju Air flight in South Korea, resulting in the deaths of 179 people out of the 181 on board, with only 2 survivors. The black box of the aircraft has been located. The South Korean government immediately declared a week of national mourning.
According to the South Korean Ministry of Transport, this is the most severe air disaster to occur on South Korean soil and the worst involving a South Korean airline in nearly 30 years.
Jeju Air’s flight 7C2216 took off from the Thai capital, Bangkok, with 175 passengers and 6 crew members on board. Shortly after 9 a.m. on Sunday, the aircraft veered off the runway while attempting to land at Incheon International Airport in South Korea, crashed into the airport perimeter wall, and caught fire.
Among the 175 passengers, 173 were South Koreans and two were Thai nationals.
South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, promptly announced a week-long national mourning period from Sunday until midnight on January 4, 2025.
Memorial altars will be set up at the accident site and in 17 cities and provinces including South Jeolla Province, Gwangju City, Seoul City, and Sejong City. Government buildings at all levels, local authorities, and public institutions will fly flags at half-mast.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed deep condolences to the families of the victims on the social media platform X, stating that she has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide immediate assistance.
As officials announced the names of some of the deceased at Incheon Airport’s lounge, families were seen in tears.
The aircraft involved in the accident was a 15-year-old twin-engine Boeing 737-800 plane. Boeing released a statement on the X platform, saying that the company is in contact with Jeju Air and is prepared to support the airline in handling the crash incident, expressing deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones.
According to the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, both black boxes of the aircraft have been recovered, including flight data and cockpit voice recordings. These devices will provide crucial information for aviation safety investigators regarding the circumstances of the crash.
One of the black boxes sustained partial damage. An official from the Ministry stated that the damage could delay the analysis of the accident’s cause.
“Just cracking the FDR (flight data recorder) alone could take about a month,” the official added. “If we encounter difficulties in decoding here, we may have to send it to the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board in the United States).” A second official stated, “They have cases from around the world to analyze, so it may take a considerable amount of time.”
The FDR is one of the two black boxes; the other is the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR).
Lee Jung-hyu, the captain of the Incheon Fire Department, stated at a press conference, “Only a bit of the tail section remained intact; the rest of the aircraft was almost unrecognizable.”
According to Lee, the two survivors are both crew members, one male and one female, rescued from the burning tail section of the aircraft. They are currently receiving treatment for moderate to severe injuries at a local hospital.
Joo Jong-hwan, Director of the Aviation Policy Office at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, stated during a press conference that the control tower at Incheon International Airport issued a bird strike warning to the aircraft around 8:57 a.m. on Sunday. Just a minute later at 8:58 a.m., the pilot sent out a distress signal. Around 9 a.m., the aircraft attempted to land on runway 19. At approximately 9:03 a.m., the aircraft belly-landed with the landing gear not deployed and collided with the airport perimeter wall.
Captain Lee of the Incheon Fire Department mentioned that investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors. However, experts have raised doubts about bird strikes.
Aviation news editor Geoffrey Thomas stated, “Bird strikes are not uncommon, neither are landing gear issues.”
“The frequency of bird strikes is much higher, but they typically do not themselves lead to aircraft losses,” Thomas said.
Under global aviation regulations, South Korea will lead the civil investigation into the crash incidents, while the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States, where the aircraft was designed and manufactured, will automatically participate in the investigation.
(This article references reports from Yonhap News Agency and Reuters.)