179 killed in plane crash at South Korean airport

The flight took off from Thailand and traveled off the coast of China toward South Korea.

The identities of at least 65 out of the 179 people confirmed dead have been determined, South Korea's National Fire Agency said.

One of the two survivors of the plane crash, a 33-year-old flight attendant with the surname Lee, was pulled from the tail of the wreckage and transferred to Ewha Woman's University Seoul Hospital.

"When I woke up, I had already been rescued," the hospital director, Ju Woong, quoted Lee as telling the doctors, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

Ju, who was speaking at a news conference, said the patient arrived with multiple fractures in his ribs and traumatic spinal injuries.

Lee was being treated in intensive care and was able to communicate. “There’s no indication yet of memory loss or such,” he said, adding Lee was under special care due to the possible aftereffects, including paralysis.

The other survivor, a 25-year-old woman with the surname Koo, was taken to Asan Medical Center in Seoul.

She reportedly sustained injuries to her ankle and head, and was in stable condition.

The Jeju Air crash involved a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, a narrow-body passenger jet that is widely used by airlines around the world, including low-cost ones like Jeju Air.

The aircraft was part of Boeing's Next-Generation family, and is one of the company's safest airplanes. According to company statistics, the Next-Gen 737 line, including the 600, 700 and 900s, had been involved in a total of 10 fatal hull losses between 1997-2023, for a rate of 0.08 incidents per 1 million flights.

That's lower than the overall fatal hull loss rate across all jets of 0.55 since 1959, though most of that is skewed by decades-old accidents involving jets now out of commission.

A hull loss is when the aircraft is damaged or destroyed beyond repair.

The Boeing 737's safety record is comparable to its competition, Airbus' A320.

As the confirmed death toll ticked up in the hours after the crash, families awaited news of their loved ones on the first floor of the Muan International Airport to hear an announcer carefully began reading out the names of those confirmed dead.

Screams and cries erupted from family members as the identities were confirmed, according to reports by the local news agency Newsis.

The room would drop to silence the moment a name was being announced, with relatives breaking down in tears or collapsing.

Two people were pulled alive from the wreckage, but after several hours of recovery operations, the remaining 179 passengers and crew were confirmed to have been killed in the crash.

The South Korean government has declared a period of national mourning until Jan. 4, acting president Choi Sang-mok said during a meeting in Seoul.

Joint memorial altars will also be set up at the accident site, he announced, as well as in Jeollanam-do, Gwangju, Seoul, Sejong and 17 other cities and provinces.

The National Fire Agency has confirmed the deaths of 179 people, accounting for all of the passengers and crew on the Jeju Air flight.

Two people, both crew members, survived the crash.

While officials say it's too early to ascertain the exact cause of the crash, a bird strike is so far believed to have sparked the deadly chain of events. Bird strikes are not uncommon in aviation and in most cases don't lead to a fatal accident.

Pilots began landing on Runway 1, but were then instructed to land on the opposite side, Runway 19, following a bird strike warning, South Korean officials said. However, almost immediately, pilots declared a mayday alert following a bird strike and attempted to land on Runway 19.

It was on this attempt that the airplane skidded along the runway without landing gear and burst into flames as it hit a barrier at the end of the runway, a video verified by NBC News showed.

It is unclear why the gear was not lowered, but officials also said the plane hit the localizer as it tried to land, a landing guidance system at the beginning of each runway, before it crashed into the barrier.

An eyewitness told a local news outlet that he heard the plane make banging noises and saw it make a very sharp turn during its final approach.

Lee Geun-Young was inside his restaurant, less than a quarter mile from the airport, when he heard loud banging noises coming from outside, he told the Korean news outlet Seoul Shinmun in an interview today.

"Instead of heading toward the runway, the plane flew right over our store," Lee, 49, said as he described the last moments of the ill-fated aircraft. Lee said he watched the plane as it turned around attempt landing on the runway.

"This plane was turning in a much tighter radius," he said. "It felt dangerous so I immediately went up to the rooftop and started filming."

Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea's impeached president, extended his "deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies" to those killed and their family members.

"I am overwhelmed with grief and sorrow," he said in a statement on Facebook.

“I urge everyone to prioritize the safety of firefighters and all rescue personnel, even amidst this urgent situation," he said, adding, "I trust that the government will do its utmost to respond to the accident and support the victims."

A photo published by local news agency Newsis showed a flock of migratory birds near the Muan International Airport where the airplane crash-landed.

South Korean officials have said the pilots attempted to land at an alternate runway after calling a mayday alert following a bird strike.

The country's National Fire Agency has confirmed the deaths of 177 people. Two people remain unaccounted for, and two survived.

The 64-year-old grandmother stood at the departure hall of Muan International Airport, waiting to hear the fate of her grandchild, son and daughter-in-law.

"The child is 9 years old, and my daughter-in-law works for Jeju Air," said Choi Ok-Soon in an interview with the Newsis News Agency. "Since it was her day off, they went on a trip together," she said.

Choi had last heard from her son last night around 11 p.m., she said. "My son contacted me saying, ‘We’re departing, too,’ and told me, ‘Mom, have a good time as well.’"

"That was the last message,” Choi said, adding: "I wish at least one of them — whether it’s my daughter-in-law, son or grandchild — had survived."

The deaths of 174 people have been confirmed by the National Fire Agency.

The chief executive of Jeju Air, Kim E-bae, apologized over the crash and extended his condelences to the families who lost their loved ones.

“Regardless of the cause, I take full responsibility as the CEO,” Kim was quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency as saying.

Kim and his colleagues bowed in an apology at a news conference.

The National Fire Agency has confirmed a death toll of 167 so far. Officials are raising the death toll as victims arrive at the morgue, and the number is expected to rise.

Of the victims, 79 were men, 77 were women, and 11 others weren't immediately identifiable by gender.

The Jeju Air Boeing 787 has been "completely destroyed by fire," Joo Jong-wan, the director of the Aviation Policy Division at South Korea's transport ministry, said at a briefing.

So far, two people — both cabin crew members — have been rescued, Joo said, and the runway at Muan International Airport will be closed until at least the morning of Jan. 1. Among the passengers were two were Thai nationals, he added.

Joo said investigators have retrieved both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorders, which will be key to providing insights into the last moments of the fatal landing.

The full investigation could take between six months and three years, he added.

At least 151 people have been killed in the Jeju Air crash, making it the deadliest airline disaster of the year.

It is also the first fatal crash in the history of the low-cost airline, which was founded in 2005.

The death toll from the crash has risen to 151, according to local authorities.

The Jeju Air flight was a Boeing 737-800, carrying 181 passengers and crew.

“The pilot declared mayday after issuing the bird strike alert,” said Joo Jong-wan, director of the Aviation Policy Division at South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, adding that the aircraft was “completely destroyed” in the crash.

The plane initially tried to land on the airport’s Runway 1, but the pilot was told to instead land on Runway 19 — in the opposite direction — due to a bird strike warning, Joo said.

A minute later, the pilot sent a mayday signal following a bird strike and tried to land on Runway 19. While passing over the runway, the plane struck a safety system called a localizer — which provides guidance during landing — failed to lower the landing gear and crashed into a wall, Joo said.

At least 127 people died when a commercial airplane crashed Sunday at a South Korean airport, officials said.

The Jeju Air flight veered off a runway while landing at Muan International Airport and caught fire after the crash, a spokesperson for the country’s National Fire Agency said.

The flight, which originated from Bangkok, was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members, said Joo Jong-wan, director of the Aviation Policy Division at South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. At least two of the passengers were Thai, Joo said.

“We suspect that the accident may have been due to the breakdown in the malfunctioning landing gear,” Lee Jung-hyun, the head of the Muan Fire Department, said at a briefing. Lee said a bird strike and adverse weather also appeared to have played a role but cautioned that the exact cause is still under investigation.

“The pilot declared mayday after issuing the bird strike alert,” Joo said, adding that the aircraft was “completely destroyed” in the crash.

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