SEOUL – At least 120 people are dead after a plane crashed while landing at an airport in South Korea/
The Boeing 737-800 flight – operated by airline Jeju Air – had 181 passengers on board and was arriving at Muan Airport from Bangkok, Thailand.
Footage online appears to show the plane coming off the runway and crashing into a wall, before bursting into flames.
No cause has been confirmed – but the fire service says it believes a collision with birds and poor weather may be to blame.
Two survivors, both members of the flight crew, have been pulled from the debris and rescue efforts continue.
The National Fire Agency said it recovered 124 bodies from the crash.
Of those, 54 are identified as male and 57 are female. An additional 13 bodies were unable to be gendered.
Jeju Air claims to be South Korea’s “number one” low-cost airline on its website. The airline was established in 2005 and has approximately 3,000 employees.
Jeju Air serves a number of routes in South Korea, as well as cities in the Asia-Pacific, including in Japan, China, the Philippines and Thailand.
As of January 2024, the airline flies to 44 cities and operates nearly 220 flights a day with its 42 aircraft.
Until today, the worst airplane related disaster in Korea was the 2002 Air China crash which killed 129 people.
Last time a South Korean airline had a fatal crash was 11 years ago.
In 2013, three people were killed when Asiana Airlines flight crashed while landing in San Francisco International Airport. (BBC)
