On Sunday, a passenger plane carrying 181 people crashed on landing at an airfield in southwestern South Korea. Despite the discovery of two survivors and ongoing rescue efforts, officials indicated the majority of those on board were assumed dead.
The plane, operated by South Korea’s Jeju Air, crashed during landing at Muan International Airport, according to local fire officials.
The disaster footage shows a white-and-orange plane travelling down a runway on its belly until it overshoots, collides with a barrier, and explodes into an orange flame.
The cause was not immediately apparent. Officials were looking into what caused the jet to crash land, including the potential of a bird strike resulting in a landing gear malfunction, according to Ju Jong-wan, head of aviation policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.
The National Fire Agency reported that at least 120 people have died as of Sunday afternoon. At least two crew members had been rescued from the tail area of the aircraft, and rescuers were still searching through the wreckage.
Lee Jeong-hyeon, the person in charge of search and rescue activities at the scene, stated that the jet had broken into so many pieces that only its tail could be identified. “We could not recognise the rest of the fuselage,” he stated.
