WHAT began as a routine Sunday morning at South Korea’s Muan International Airport turned into one of the nation’s deadliest aviation disasters, as a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 carrying 181 passengers and crew plummeted from the sky, leaving only two survivors in its wake.
According to witnesses at the scene, the morning’s calm was shattered by a series of explosions. “I saw big dark smoke and heard multiple explosions,” local restaurant owner Im Young Hak told Reuters. Initially mistaking the commotion for an oil tanker accident, the reality of what he was witnessing soon became clear. “It happened right here, not far away,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion. “It is traumatic. I’m not sure how long I will feel this way, but it won’t be a short time — that I know.”
The tragedy has sent ripples far beyond Korean shores. In Thailand, Boonchuay Duangmanee received the news no parent should ever hear. His daughter Jongluk, who had been working in a South Korean factory for several years, was among the victims. “I heard that the plane exploded in Korea this morning. But I did not expect at all that my daughter would be on this flight,” he told the Associated Press, his voice breaking as he added, “I never thought that this would be the last time we would see each other forever.”
The only survivors, CNN reports, were two crew members rescued from the plane’s tail section after the aircraft burst into flames. One of them, a 33-year-old man now being treated at Seoul’s Ewha Hospital, offered a glimpse into the horror: “When I woke up, I realized I had been rescued,” he told doctors, according to hospital director Ju Woong. The survivor, suffering from multiple back fractures, remains under intensive care and psychological monitoring.
While local fire officials and aviation experts point to a potential landing gear malfunction, the investigation’s scope has widened following reports of a mayday call made shortly after the control tower warned about birds in the area. Despite the strong safety record of both the Boeing 737-800 and Jeju Air, South Korea’s largest low-cost carrier, experts caution that the full investigation could take years to complete.
Inside Muan International Airport, the scene remains one of profound grief as families demand answers, their sorrow echoing through corridors that just hours earlier had bustled with routine travel activity. The crash marks South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster in more than two decades, leaving a nation in mourning and a world watching as investigators piece together the final moments of Flight 2867.
Jeju Air flight 2216 crashed at Muan International Airport, killing nearly everyone on board. Authorities are examining the role of bird strikes and weather, while Jeju Air CEO offers condolences to victims' families https://t.co/UCBiW1DBka pic.twitter.com/q8MnzSdvxr
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 29, 2024
