Flight data and cockpit voice recorders from last month’s Jeju Air crash stopped recording four minutes before the disaster, South Korea’s Transport Ministry has confirmed.
The accident, which occurred on December 29 at Muan International Airport, killed 179 people, making it the deadliest air accident on South Korean soil. Two members of the cabin crew were the only survivors of this tragic incident.
The Boeing 737-800, en route from Bangkok, crashed without its landing gear deployed, slid off the runway and hit a wall, catching fire. Investigators hoped that these recorders, often called “black boxes,” would shed light on the crucial moments leading up to the accident.
After an initial analysis in South Korea, the recorders were sent to the United States, where safety regulators confirmed the missing data.
Department of Transportation officials are now investigating why the recorders stopped, raising questions about a potential loss of all power, including backups.
Sim Jai-dong, a former accident investigator at the Transport Ministry, said he was surprised by the loss of the last critical minutes of data.
The ministry is also investigating other potential causes, including weather conditions and a possible bird strike.
The investigation highlighted the failure of landing gear to deploy, a key factor in the crash, but many questions about the tragedy remain unanswered.
It was South Korea’s deadliest air accident on record, killing 179 people when a jetliner landed on its belly and skidded off the end of the runway, causing a ball of fire as it crashed into a wall at Muan International Airport.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, from the Thai capital Bangkok, with 175 passengers and six crew members on board, was attempting to land shortly after 9 a.m. local time at the southern airport. , said the South Korean Ministry of Transport. Two crew members survived and were being treated for their injuries.
The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 was seen in local media video landing on its belly at Muan International Airport and skidding off the runway as smoke billowed from the engines, before crashing into a wall and explode into flames, killing everyone on board. except two crew members torn from the wreckage.
“Only the rear part retains some shape, and the rest (of the plane) seems almost impossible to recognize,” Lee Jung-hyun, Muan fire chief, said at a press briefing. The two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail of the burning plane, Lee said.
“The passengers were ejected from the plane after it collided with the wall, leaving little chance of survival,” a local fire official said at a press briefing, according to a press release published by the firefighters. Only two people, both flight attendants, were rescued from the crash, according to the release.
“Of the 179 dead, 65 have been identified,” said the country’s firefighters, adding that DNA analyzes had begun. Inside the airport terminal, tearful family members gathered to wait for news. An official began calling out the names of the 65 victims, each name triggering new cries of pain.
All the passengers were Korean except for two Thais, the youngest a three-year-old boy and the oldest a 78-year-old man, authorities said. The two survivors were transferred to separate hospitals in Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported.
Pieces of airplane seats and luggage were scattered on the ground next to the runway. Authorities searched nearby areas for bodies that may have been thrown from the plane, Lee said. Investigators are looking at bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said.
