SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Mourning families of the victims of the South Korea plane crash have congregated at the crash site on New Year’s Day to pay homage to their departed loved ones. Officials have shared that data has been successfully retrieved from one of the recovered black boxes, a crucial step towards determining the precise cause of the tragic incident.
Tragically, all but two individuals out of the 181 passengers and crew aboard the Jeju Air-operated Boeing 737-800 perished when the aircraft crashed at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea this past Sunday. Video footage unveiled the distressing scene of the aircraft making a high-speed belly landing without its landing gear deployed, subsequently skidding off the runway’s end and colliding with a concrete fence before erupting into flames. The footage indicates that the plane was grappling with an apparent engine malfunction alongside the landing gear issue.
Investigative authorities have disclosed that the pilot was alerted by air traffic controllers about potential bird strikes, following which the plane reportedly issued a distress signal prior to the fatal crash. The Transport Ministry divulged in a statement on Wednesday that the data retrieval from the cockpit voice recorder, one of the two black boxes salvaged from the wreckage, has been concluded. The extracted data is slated to be transcribed into audio files, while a damaged flight data recorder will be dispatched to the United States for comprehensive analysis, as per the ministry’s announcement.
The demised individuals were predominantly South Korean nationals, with the exception of two Thai citizens, many of whom were returning from Bangkok after the festive Christmas holidays. The grieving families made an emotional visit to the crash site on Wednesday, marking their first encounter with the location since the tragic event, to partake in a poignant memorial service. The families were transported to the site where they tenderly placed white flowers, kneeling in reverence and bowing deeply before a memorial table adorned with offerings, including “ddeokguk,” a traditional Korean rice cake soup customarily consumed on New Year’s Day.
The Transport Ministry has confirmed the completion of the meticulous process of identifying all 179 victims, with the government having thus far facilitated the handover of 11 bodies to their respective families. In light of the gravest aviation disaster in South Korea in recent history, the nation is in the midst of a seven-day period of national mourning.
Subsequent to the catastrophe, the government has initiated extensive safety evaluations of all 101 Boeing 737-800s operated by domestic airlines within the country. A contingent of U.S. investigators, inclusive of Boeing representatives, conducted an examination of the crash site on Tuesday. Authorities have underscored their intent to review whether the localizer at the airport, comprising a series of antennas encased within a concrete fence at the runway’s terminus to aid aircraft during landings, should have been constructed using lighter materials that would yield upon impact.
