A passenger plane burst into flames Sunday after it skid off a runway at a South Korean airport and slammed into a concrete fence when its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy, killing at least 85 people, officials said about one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.
The National Fire Agency (NFA) said the fire was almost put out but officials were still trying to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane, which had been carrying 181 people, at the airport in the southern town of Muan, about 290 kilometres south of Seoul.
At least 85 people died in the fire, the NFA said. Emergency workers pulled out two crew members — one man and one woman.
It said it deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire.
Footage of the crash aired by YTN television showed the plane skidding across the airstrip, apparently with its landing gear still closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the facility.
The Transport Ministry said the incident happened at 9:03 a.m. local time.
Local TV stations aired footage showing the plane engulfed in flame with thick pillows of black smoke billowing from it.
Emergency officials in Muan said they were examining the cause of the fire, initially saying the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned. The Transport Ministry said the plane was returning from Bangkok, and its passengers include two Thai nationals.
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the families of those affected by the accident through a post on the social platform X. Paetongtarn said she had ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide assistance immediately.
It’s one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation history. The last time South Korea suffered a large-scale air disaster was in 1997 when an Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board.
The incident came as South Korea is embroiled into a huge political crisis triggered by then-president Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning imposition of martial law and ensuing impeachment.
On Friday, South Korean lawmakers also impeached acting president Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, forcing Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok to take over.
Choi ordered officials to employ all available resources to rescue the passengers and crew, according to Yonhap news agency.
Yoon’s office said his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, will preside over an emergency meeting of senior presidential staff later on Sunday to discuss the crash.
