South Korea plane crash, at least 179 killed, two crew rescued
A Jeju Air (089590.KS) flight 7C2216 traveling from the Thai Capital Bangkok to South Africa crashed on Sunday morning at Maun International Airport.
According to the transport ministry that the deadliest air accident on South Korean soil was also the worst involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades.
South Korea’s National Fire Agency reported that at least 179 people lost their lives in the blaze, including 79 women, 77 men, and 11 individuals whose genders were not immediately identified.
Two survivors, a crew member and a passenger, were rescued, but hopes for finding more survivors are fading. The fire has since been extinguished, but the scale of the damage has left little chance for recovery.
South Korea has experienced several notable plane crashes over the years, so I need more specifics to give you detailed information on a particular incident. However, I’ll outline a significant and tragic event that occurred:
Korean Air Flight 858 (1987)
One of the most infamous incidents involving South Korea was Korean Air Flight 858, which was bombed on November 29, 1987. It was a scheduled international flight from Baghdad, Iraq, to Seoul, South Korea. The bombing, attributed to North Korean agents, resulted in the deaths of all 115 people on board, including passengers and crew. This attack is still remembered as one of the most tragic acts of terrorism in the history of Korean aviation.
Asiana Airlines and Korean Air Crashes:
South Korean carriers such as Asiana Airlines and Korean Air have also been involved in crashes, though many of their flights are statistically very safe. Some notable ones include:
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 (2013): On July 6, 2013, Asiana Airlines Flight 214, a Boeing 777, crashed while attempting to land at San Francisco International Airport. The crash resulted in three fatalities and over 180 injuries. It was later determined that the pilots had made errors in controlling the plane’s descent rate.
Korean Air Flight 801 (1997): A crash of Korean Air Flight 801 occurred on August 6, 1997, near Guam, resulting in 228 fatalities. This was a result of pilot error during the approach to Guam’s airport in poor weather conditions.
