Bereaved family members (R) of passengers look on beside wreckage on the website the place a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 plane crashed and burst into flames at Muan Worldwide Airport in Muan, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on January 1, 2025. Agence France-Presse
SEOUL — Investigators probing a Jeju Air crash which killed 179 individuals within the worst aviation catastrophe on South Korean soil have extracted the preliminary knowledge from one of many Boeing 737-800’s black containers, an official mentioned Wednesday.
The aircraft was carrying 181 individuals from Thailand to South Korea when it issued a mayday name and belly-landed earlier than hitting a barrier and bursting into flames, killing everybody aboard besides two flight attendants pulled from the burning wreckage.
South Korean and US investigators, together with from Boeing, have been combing over the crash website in southwestern Muan for the reason that catastrophe Sunday.
READ: All however 2 feared useless after South Korea aircraft crashes with 181 aboard
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Each of the aircraft’s black containers have been retrieved, and for the cockpit voice recorder, “the preliminary extraction has already been accomplished,” mentioned deputy minister for civil aviation Joo Jong-wan.
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“Primarily based on this preliminary knowledge, we plan to start out changing it into audio format,” he mentioned, which means investigators would be capable to hear the pilots’ last communications.
The second black field, the flight knowledge recorder, “was discovered with a lacking connector,” Joo mentioned.
“Consultants are at the moment conducting a last evaluation to find out tips on how to extract knowledge from it.”
READ: What we find out about Jeju Air aircraft crash in South Korea
Officers initially pointed to a chicken strike as a attainable reason behind the catastrophe, however they’ve since mentioned the probe was additionally analyzing a concrete barrier on the finish of the runway, which dramatic video confirmed the Boeing 737-800 colliding with earlier than bursting into flames.
There have additionally been questions over attainable mechanical failures, with native media reporting that the touchdown gear had deployed correctly on Jeju Air Flight 2216’s first failed touchdown try at Muan airport earlier than failing on the second.
The problem “will probably be examined by the Accident Investigation Board via a complete evaluation of assorted testimonies and proof throughout the investigation course of,” the ministry of land, which oversees civil aviation, mentioned at a briefing.
All victims recognized
At Muan airport, grieving households of victims had turn out to be more and more pissed off by delays in figuring out and releasing the our bodies.
Officers have mentioned the our bodies have been extensively broken by the crash, making the work of figuring out stays gradual and immensely troublesome, whilst investigators needed to protect crash-site proof.
READ: All 179 victims within the lethal Jeju Air crash recognized – authorities
However the nation’s performing president mentioned Wednesday the method had lastly been accomplished, and that extra our bodies had been handed over to family members in order that they might maintain funerals.
“In a single day, the identification of all 179 victims was accomplished,” mentioned performing president Choi Sang-mok, who has been in workplace lower than every week.
“Our investigators, together with the US Nationwide Transportation Security Board and the producer, are conducting a joint investigation into the reason for the accident,” Choi mentioned at a catastrophe response assembly Wednesday.
“A complete evaluation and evaluation of the plane’s construction and the black field knowledge will reveal the reason for the accident,” Choi added.
The US investigators had arrived Monday and headed straight to Muan, with the preliminary on-site joint probe specializing in a navigation system that assists in plane landings, referred to as a localiser.
The localiser, put in on a concrete construction at Muan Worldwide Airport, is the barrier that has been blamed for exacerbating the severity of the Jeju Air crash.
The aircraft was largely carrying holidaymakers again from year-end journeys to Bangkok, with all passengers Korean nationals besides for 2 Thais.
A fuller account of what went flawed within the flight’s last moments is predicted as soon as authorities have analysed the black containers.
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Memorial altars for the victims have been arrange nationwide, together with in Seoul and at Muan airport.