Families mourn after S Korea plane crash

The trip to Thailand is supposed to be a celebration for Maeng Gi-Su’s niece and nephew’s two sons, who are completing their college entrance exams.

Instead, it ended tragically when all three died on a Jeju Air flight that crashed in South Korea on Sunday morning, killing 179 of the 181 people on board.

“I can’t believe the whole family is gone,” Maeng, 78, told the BBC.

“My heart hurts so much.”

The family was traveling on flight 7C2216 from Bangkok to Muan International Airport, which skidded off the runway after hitting the ground. it fell on the fence shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Sunday.

All aboard the Boeing 737-800 died, making it one of South Korea’s deadliest plane crashes.

Four people who were on board were among those who were killed, while two were rescued from the accident alive.

The 179 passengers were aged between three and 78, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. Two Thai nationals are among the dead and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, officials said.

Five of the dead were children under the age of 10, while the youngest, a little boy, was only three years old.

One six-year-old man said five members of his family spanning three generations were on the plane, including his brother-in-law, daughter, husband and their young children, according to Yonhap news agency.

Most of the passengers had celebrated the Christmas holidays in Thailand and were returning home.

A cousin of one of the victims, Jongluk Doungmanee, told BBC Thai that he was “horrified” when he heard the news.

“I had goosebumps. I couldn’t believe it,” said Pornphichaya Chalermsin.

She spent more than two weeks in Thailand visiting her family and traveling in the northern city of Chiang Mai with her husband.

A 71-year-old father, Jeon Je-young, told the Reuters news agency that his daughter Mi-Sook, who was identified by her fingerprints, was on her way home from Bangkok for the festival.

“My daughter, who is in her 40s, ended up like this,” he said, adding that he last saw her on December 21, when he brought food and a calendar for the next year to her home – which became theirs. the last moment together.

Mi-Sook leaves behind a husband and a teenage daughter.

“This is not surprising,” said Jeon.

One woman said her sister, who was suffering a lot, went to Thailand when life started to improve.

“He has faced a lot of difficulties and has been traveling because his condition has just started,” he told Yonhap news agency.

The two flight attendants who survived the crash were found at the end of the plane, a large part of the plane’s wreckage.

One was a 33-year-old man, surnamed Lee, who was rushed to a hospital in Mokpo, about 25km (15.5 mi) south of the airport, but was later transferred to Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital in the capital Yonhap. The news agency said.

“When I woke up, I was already saved,” he told doctors at the hospital, according to director Ju Woong, who spoke at a press conference.

The survivor, who was crushed several times, is receiving special care because of the risk of the consequences, including total paralysis, said Ju.

The other survivor, a 25-year-old pilot surnamed Koo, is being treated at the Asan Medical Center in eastern Seoul, Yonhap added.

He is injured in the head and legs but is said to be fine.

The cause of the crash is still unknown, but several eyewitnesses said they saw the plane in trouble before it crashed.

Restaurant owner Im Young-Hak said at first he thought it was a fuel tank accident.

“I went outside and saw thick, black smoke. After that, I heard a big explosion, not the same explosion. Then there was another explosion – at least seven,” he told Reuters.

“We feel sad when accidents happen in other parts of the world, but this happened right here. It’s sad.”

Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who lives near the airport, told local media that he saw a fire on the right-hand side before the crash.

Kim Yong-cheol, 70, said the plane failed to land initially and circled back to try again.

He said he saw “black smoke rising from the sky” after hearing a “huge explosion”, Yonhap news agency reported.

A firefighter sent to the scene told Reuters he had never seen anything “on this scale”.

BBC reporters on the ground reported that the sound of relatives wailing could be heard on Sunday evening, with some angry that it was taking so long to identify the bodies.

Hundreds remain at Muan International Airport waiting for their loved ones to be identified.

Some have provided DNA tapes to authorities to help identify the victims, and the government has provided funeral homes and temporary housing for bereaved families.

A national mourning period has also been declared for the next seven days.

But for all the loved ones of those who died, many questions remain – at least what caused the accident, and whether it could have been prevented.

“The water near the airport is shallow,” Jeon told Reuters.

“(There are) softer fields than this cement road. Why couldn’t the pilot land there?”

His daughter Mi-Sook was almost home, so he saw no reason to call and leave a last message, he says.

“He was almost home – he thought he was coming home”.

Additional reports by BBC Thai’s Thanyaporn Buathong