At least 167 people have been confirmed dead following a tragic crash involving an airplane carrying 175 passengers and six crew members in South Korea. The Jeju Air passenger plane crashed at an airport in the southwestern part of the country.
The accident happened on December 29, 2024, shortly after 09:05 local time -03:00 Kenyan time- when the plane was landing at Muan International Airport on its return trip from Bangkok, Thailand.
The National Fire Agency in a statement on Sunday said that the death toll from the crash has risen to 167.
South Korean news agency Yonhap on its part reported that most of the 181 passengers are presumed dead, citing the local fire authority.
Most of the passengers onboard were Koreans (173), except for two Thai nationals. In the last hour, the death toll continued to rise.
Yonhap reported that two people inside the plane -both women- who had been in the plane’s tail section were rescued shortly after the accident and were being treated at a hospital in Mokpo.
Jeju Air passenger plane crashes in South Korea airport
In a footage seen by The Kenya Times, the plane is seen attempting to land without its landing gear deployed before skidding against the ground and later exploding leaving it engulfed in flames.
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The plane was almost completely destroyed by the explosion.
Following the crash, authorities in South Jeolla province, located about 288 kilometers southwest of the capital Seoul, raised emergency alerts to the highest levels and deployed all available rescue and police personnel to the accident site.
Officials in South Korea believe the accident could have happened due to a landing gear failure and began an on-site investigation to determine the exact cause.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing in a statement said that it is in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stands ready to support them.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” the company said.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok arrived at the crash site, instructing officials to make all-out efforts for search operations.
While promising to offer all possible government assistance to the bereaved family members, Choi also expressed deep condolences with the presidential office saying it would convene an emergency meeting of senior officials at 11:30 a.m. to discuss government responses to the plane crash.
Acting National Police Agency Commissioner-General Lee Ho-young, on his part, ordered officials to mobilize all available resources and work with firefighting and other related agencies to help with the rescue efforts.
The Jeju Air aircraft crash comes barely five days after another plane crash in Kazakhstan claimed the lives of more than 35 people on December 25.
Plane belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines crashes
An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 passenger plane belonging to Azerbaijan Airlines crashed on Christmas day morning with 62 passengers and 5 crew members on board.
The plane had taken off from Baku, Azerbaijan at 6:50am Moscow time and was scheduled to land in Grozny Chechnya-Russia, where Ukrainian drone attacks have been reported in recent weeks, at 8:20am.
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However, just before landing in Grozny, the plane turned around and flew across the Caspian Sea towards Kazakhstan where it crashed near Aktau on the eastern shore of the Sea.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported that 38 people died while the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that 29 people survived the crash. All survivors were in the tail section of the plane.
According to the Ministry, the survivors were hospitalized after the plane crash, 15 of whom were Azerbaijan citizens, 9 from Russia, 2 from Kyrgyzstan, and other three unidentified foreign nationals.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has since apologized to the president of neighbouring Azerbaijan over the downing of the commercial airliner in Russian airspace, but stopped short of saying Russia was responsible.
In his first comments on the Christmas Day crash, Putin said the “tragic incident” had occurred when Russian air defense systems were repelling Ukrainian drones.
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