Reversal News Desk,
The latest news of the death toll from the crash of a passenger plane at Muan International Airport in South Korea has reached 179. There were a total of 181 passengers on board the crashed plane. Two people have been rescued alive in the incident.
Several text messages from a passenger on the plane before the crash, which occurred around 9 a.m. local time on Sunday (December 29), have been reported in local media.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that the messages made it clear that the survivors’ hopes of survival were fading.
A relative of a passenger waiting at the airport told local News One, “I received a message from my family member on the plane about a problem with the plane. But I haven’t been able to contact them since then.”
The passenger apparently sent a text message at 9 a.m. saying, “A bird is stuck on the wing of the plane. We can’t land.”
When the relative of the waiting passenger asked for details, he replied a minute later, “Right now, should I leave the last message?” The connection was then lost.
Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride from Seoul said there appeared to be a fault with the landing gear. Media images showed the plane landing on its belly. It first skidded along the runway, then a large explosion occurred.
Yonhap News Agency reported that the crash was believed to have occurred “due to a fault in the landing gear caused by a bird strike” while attempting to land at the airport.
An official from the aviation department of the South Korean Ministry of Transport said that this could have been caused by a bird strike. However, the cause has not yet been confirmed, and an investigation is underway.
South Korean acting President Choi Sang-mok has ordered all-out efforts to rescue the plane at Muan Airport. He said that all relevant agencies must be mobilized.
Jeju Air, one of South Korea’s low-cost airlines founded in 2005, has apologized for today’s accident.
