SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – A passenger plane skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport Sunday, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy. Most of the 181 people on board died in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.
The Jeju Air plane crashed while landing in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry said the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that had arrived from Bangkok and that the crash happened at 9:03 a.m.
At least 177 people – 84 women, 82 men and 11 others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable – died in the fire, the South Korean fire agency said. Emergency workers pulled two people, both crew members, to safety. Health officials said they are conscious and not in life-threatening condition.
Two people remained missing some 12 hours after the incident. Among the 177 bodies found, officials have so far identified 57 of them, the fire agency said. The passengers were predominantly South Korean, as well as two Thai nationals.
