At least 120 people have died in a devastating airliner crash in South Korea, where a plane landed without its wheels, veered off the runway, and exploded upon colliding with a wall at Muan International Airport on Sunday, according to the national fire agency.
According to a report by Dawn News on Sunday, the Jeju Air flight 7C2216, which was arriving from Bangkok, Thailand, with 181 individuals on board, attempted to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the southern airport, as reported by South Korea’s transport ministry.
This incident marks the deadliest aviation disaster involving a South Korean airline in nearly 30 years, based on ministry statistics. Footage from local media shows the twin-engine Boeing 737-800 skidding down the runway without visible landing gear before crashing into a wall, resulting in a massive fireball and debris.
Additional images captured smoke and flames engulfing parts of the aircraft. Two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun stated during a briefing. The fire was extinguished by 1 p.m., according to Lee.
“Only the tail section retains some shape, while the rest of the aircraft is nearly unrecognizable,” he remarked. Authorities have shifted from rescue efforts to recovery operations and are searching surrounding areas for bodies that may have been ejected from the plane due to the impact, Lee added.
The two crew members are currently receiving treatment at hospitals for injuries ranging from moderate to severe, as reported by the head of the local public health center.
