Aircraft burst into flames at an airport in South Korea, killing at the very least 85 : NPR


Firefighters and rescue team members work at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, Sunday.

Firefighters and rescue crew members work at Muan Worldwide Airport in Muan, South Korea, Sunday.

Cho Nam-soo/AP/Yonhap


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Cho Nam-soo/AP/Yonhap

SEOUL, South Korea — A passenger airplane burst into flames Sunday after it skid off a runway at a South Korean airport and slammed right into a concrete fence when its entrance touchdown gear apparently didn’t deploy, killing at the very least 85 folks, officers stated, in one of many nation’s worst aviation disasters.

The Nationwide Hearth Company stated the fireplace was virtually put out however officers have been nonetheless making an attempt to drag folks from the Jeju Air passenger airplane carrying 181 folks on the airport within the city of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul.

At the very least 85 folks — 46 ladies and 39 males — died within the fireplace, the company stated. Emergency employees pulled out two folks — one passenger and one crew member. It stated it deployed 32 fireplace vans and a number of other helicopters to comprise the fireplace.

Footage of the crash aired by YTN tv confirmed the Jeju Air airplane skidding throughout the airstrip, apparently with its touchdown gear nonetheless closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the ability. The transport ministry stated the incident occurred at 9:03 a.m. native time.

Native TV stations aired footage displaying thick pillows of black smoke billowing from the airplane engulfed with flame.

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire off the runway of Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, Sunday.

Firefighters work to extinguish a hearth off the runway of Muan Worldwide Airport in Muan, South Korea, Sunday. (Maeng Dae-hwan/Newsis through AP)

Maeng Dae-hwan/AP/Newsis


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Maeng Dae-hwan/AP/Newsis

Emergency officers in Muan stated they have been inspecting the reason for the fireplace. They stated the airplane’s touchdown gear appeared to have malfunctioned. The transport ministry stated the airplane was coming back from Bangkok and its passengers embody two Thai nationals.

Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the households of these affected by the accident via a put up on social platform X. Paetongtarn stated she had ordered the Ministry of International Affairs to offer help instantly.

It is one of many deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation historical past. The final time South Korea suffered a large-scale air catastrophe was in 1997, when an Korean Airline airplane crashed in Guam, killing 228 folks on board.

The incident got here as South Korea is embroiled into an enormous political disaster triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s gorgeous imposition of martial regulation and ensuing impeachment. Final Friday, South Korean lawmakers impeached performing President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, making Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.

Choi ordered officers to make use of all obtainable assets to rescue the passengers and crew earlier than he headed to Muan. Yoon’s workplace stated his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, will preside over an emergency assembly between senior presidential employees in a while Sunday to debate the crash.

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