South Korean plane crash death toll passes 100

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At least 122 people were killed Sunday after a South Korean passenger jet crashed and burst into flames on landing, local authorities said, in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.

The Jeju Air flight was returning from Bangkok with 181 passengers on board when it failed to deploy its landing gear, skidded off the runway before hitting a wall and bursting into flames at Mueang International Airport in the south of the country.

According to the National Fire Agency, two crew members were rescued from the tail of the plane, but most of the passengers are feared dead, officials said. South KoreaYonhap news agency. More than 30 trucks and several helicopters were deployed to the disaster.

According to the Transport Ministry, 173 of the 175 passengers were South Koreans, while the remaining two were Thai nationals. There were six other crew members on board.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok of South Korea He assumed responsibility on Friday After his predecessor was impeached by Parliament – he promised to “investigate the cause of the accident and take steps to prevent the recurrence of similar accidents”.

“This is a serious situation. We will try our best to deal with the damage,” he said from the accident site.

Local television news footage showed thick smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane, a twin-engine Boeing 737-800 jet.

According to local media reports, all flights at the airport in South Jeolla Province have been cancelled. Jeju Air activated emergency protocols and formed a team to support the mourners.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the bereaved and bereaved families. We feel great responsibility and will do our best to find the exact cause of the accident,” company president Kim Ee-bae said in a televised statement.

An airline spokesman said authorities were working to determine the cause of the crash. In a televised briefing, officials suggested bird strikes and bad weather as possible causes. The transport ministry also said it will check the maintenance records of the 15-year-old aircraft.

Boeing said it is in contact with the airline about the incident.

South Korea has experienced several fatal plane crashes in the past, although the country’s safety record has improved in recent years. According to official data, South Korean-flagged aircraft have had 67 accidents in the past 10 years, resulting in 59 deaths.

In 1983, a Korean Air flight was shot down by the former Soviet Union, killing all 269 people on board. In 1997, another Korean Air flight crashed in Guam, killing 228 of the 254 people on board. In 2013, an Asiana Airlines flight crashed while preparing to land in San Francisco, killing three and injuring 187.

Sunday’s disaster is the second fatal plane crash in recent days. A passenger flight of Azerbaijan Airlines on Wednesday Crashed in Kazakhstan After being evacuated across the Caspian Sea from Grozny in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials blamed the Russian fighter jet on fire for the crash, which killed 38 of the 67 people on board. Russian authorities attributed the change of course to thick fog and a flock of birds, but also said it happened when Ukrainian war drones attacked nearby towns.

Russian Vladimir Putin has apologized on Saturday for “tragic events” in Azerbaijan, but did not comment on allegations of Russian interference.