Fire and smoke rise from the tail section of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft after the plane crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on December 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
YONHAP / AFP
A passenger plane burst into flames Sunday (December 29, 2024), after it skid off a runway at a South Korea airport and slammed into a concrete fence when its front landing gear failed to deploy, killing at least 62 people, officials said.
The fire engulfed the aircraft carrying 181 people when it skidded off the runway just after landing and struck a barrier. The country’s emergency office said its landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned.
Footage of the crash aired by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding across the airstrip, apparently with its landing gear still closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the facility. The transport ministry said the incident happened at 9:03 am local time.
The National Fire Agency said the fire was almost put out but officials were still trying to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane at the airport in the southern town of Muan.
At least 62 people had died in the fire, the agency said. Emergency workers pulled out two people — one passenger and one crew member. It said it deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire.
Emergency officials said they were examining the cause of the fire.
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