Sobbing and prayers echo through South Korean airport as families mourn air crash victims

Muan County, South Korea -

The sounds of sobbing, prayers and anguish echoed through the departures hall of an airport in southwestern South Korea on Monday as families of the victims killed when a passenger jet crash-landed over the weekend waited for their loved ones to be identified.

All but two people on a Jeju Air plane carrying 175 passengers and six crew died after it crashed at the airport in Muan County just after 9 a.m. local time on Sunday – in what is the deadliest aviation disaster the country has seen in nearly 30 years.

Loved ones inside Muan International Airport wept as medics announced the names of the victims who had been identified. So far, 146 victims have been identified, while efforts are underway to name the remaining 33 bodies, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

In the soaring atrium that normally serves as the airport’s departure hall, scores of families huddled together, murmuring hushed prayers. Some were seen wrapped in each other’s embrace, weeping, while several monks spoke to gathered groups. Rows of yellow tents stood erected for people who had stayed overnight. Several relatives could be seen yelling at officials, demanding more information.

Investigation underway

Investigators are working to pinpoint what may have caused the crash of Jeju Air flight 7C 2216, which was flying from Bangkok to Muan. South Korean officials confirmed on Monday that the pilot had reported a bird strike before he made the doomed emergency landing.

“The pilot reported an emergency declaration and go-around due to a bird strike,” said Kang Jung-hyun, a senior official at the transport ministry. The pilot said “mayday, mayday, mayday” three times and used the terms “bird strike” and “go-around,” the official said.

A “go-around” is an aviation term that means a landing is aborted when a plane nears a final approach and instead the pilot will instead increase speed and ascend before attempting another approach or diverting elsewhere.

Footage of Sunday’s crash broadcast by multiple South Korean news outlets showed that neither the back nor front landing gear was visible. Video showed the plane, a Boeing 737-800, sliding on its belly at high speed, hitting an earthen embankment and erupting in a fireball.

Experts told CNN that the plane’s undercarriage – specifically, the wheels used for takeoff and landing – appeared not to have fully deployed. But what caused this failure to deploy, something analysts said was extremely rare, is still unclear.

Two black boxes – the flight data and voice recorders – have been recovered from the crash site, according to a briefing by the transport ministry. But the flight recorder suffered external damage that required it to be sent to an analysis center in Seoul to see how much information could be extracted and whether it needed to be sent to the United States, the ministry said.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading a team of US investigators, including from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, to assist South Korean authorities. The NTSB said any information would be released by South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board.

South Korea’s transport ministry said Monday that the control tower had warned the pilot about birds in the area shortly before the pilot reported a bird strike, made the mayday call and asked to land in the opposite direction.

The ministry made the clarification after saying Sunday the control tower had instructed the pilot to change course shortly after he made the mayday call.

The landing attempt occurred about two minutes after the mayday call, according to the ministry.

Uncertainty remains as to what exactly went wrong, with some aviation experts questioning how much impact a bird strike could have had in bringing down the Jeju Air plane.

The transport ministry said the head pilot on the flight had held the role since 2019 and had about 6,800 hours of flight experience.

South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, has declared seven days of national mourning and ordered an investigation into the country’s entire airline system.

The transport ministry will inspect all Boeing 737-800 planes in the country, according to Deputy Transport Minister Joo Jong-wan.

A total of 101 planes of the model used by six airlines are subject to the inspection with authorities looking at each jet’s maintenance record on major parts, including the engine and landing gear, Joo said.

“We will transparently disclose the progress of the investigation into the accident, even before the final results are released, and keep the bereaved families informed,” Choi said Monday at a disaster control meeting in Seoul.

A day earlier, Choi, also the country’s finance minister, had arrived at the scene of the crash and declared it a special disaster zone as he expressed his “heartfelt condolences” to the families of the victims.

The tragedy comes only two days after he assumed presidential duties following parliament’s vote to impeach prime minister Han Duck-soo, who had been acting president since President Yoon Sul Yeol was impeached and suspended from power following his short-lived martial law decree earlier this month.

Choi is leading the centralized disaster control team, a responsibility typically assumed by the prime minister.

More than 700 personnel from the police, military, and coast guard have been mobilized for on-site response efforts, according to the transport ministry.

Mourners have begun laying flowers and candles at a public memorial altar set up in Muan to honor victims of the crash, according to video by Reuters news agency.

'She was almost home'

The victims of Sunday’s crash include 84 males, 85 females, and 10 people whose gender could not be determined, according to the South Jeolla Fire Service. Both of the survivors were crew members, one man and one woman, according to the rescue team.

Two Thai nationals were among those on board, according to the South Korean transport ministry. All the other passengers were South Korean.

A father of one of the Thai victims, Boonchuay Duangmanee, told the Associated Press he “never thought that this would be the last time we would see each other forever.”

His daughter, Jongluk, had been working in a factory in South Korea for several years, he told the AP. She had been in Thailand visiting family before departing on the flight from Bangkok to Muan.

“I heard that the plane exploded in Korea this morning. But I did not expect at all that my daughter would be on this flight,” he said.

Another man who lost his daughter told Reuters he had not heard from her before the crash.

“She was almost home so she didn’t feel the need to make a call,” 71-year-old Jeon Je-Young said of his daughter Jeon Mi-Sook.

“She thought she was coming home. I figure in those last moments when she did try to reach out, the damage had already been done and the plane had probably crashed,” he said.

Another bereaved family member told CNN affiliate JTBC that it is taking time to recover the bodies of crash victims because they are “severely damaged.”

“I hope my siblings, my family, can be recovered and returned to us, even if only 80 per cent intact,” he said, his voice breaking.