The death toll from a passenger plane that crashed in South Korea has risen to 179, meaning that all of the passengers and four of the plane’s six crew members are now confirmed to be dead.
Two crew members were recovered alive from the site of the horrific crash and taken to hospital, meaning that the immediate fate of all 181 people on board the flight is now known.
The flight was a Jeju Air passenger plane, a Boeing 737-800 jet, which had departed from Bangkok, Thailand, and crashed following an emergency landing at an airport in the South Korean town of Muan.
All passengers and four crew members on board the plane are confirmed to have died (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Footage of the crash appeared to show the plane skidding across the runway without having deployed its landing gear before it collided with a concrete wall and exploded.
Much of the plane was destroyed by the crash, with only the aircraft’s tail section recognisable from the debris.
According to the BBC, local news outlets have reported that one of the passengers sent a text message to a family member saying a bird was ‘stuck in the wing’ of the plane.
“Should I leave my last words,” was the final message they were able to send before the plane crashed, and with all passengers confirmed to be dead, that would have been the last message the person was able to send out.
The plane made an emergency landing at an airport in the South Korean town of Muan, but the landing gear failed to deploy (Twitter)
An investigation into the crash confirmed that the plane had been attempting to land before it was given a bird strike warning from air traffic control.
Around two minutes later, the plane issued a mayday warning and the flight was given permission to land at the airport, with the aircraft then coming into contact with the ground without the landing gear deployed before it skidded into the wall.
The plane’s black box has been recovered from the site of the crash so investigators will be able to learn what happened to the plane in the final moments.
South Korea’s government has declared a seven day period of mourning, and family members of the passengers on board the plane who had gathered at Muan International Airport will know the tragic news that their loved ones did not survive.
A passenger on board the plane sent a message to a family member saying a bird was ‘stuck in the wing’ before the crash. (BBC)
The runway will remain closed until New Year’s Day.
The two crew members who were taken from the plane still alive suffered ‘mid to severe’ injuries, while authorities said that the youngest passenger on board the plane was three-years-old, and the eldest being 78.
Five of the passengers on board the flight were children under the age of 10.
While a bird strike or weather conditions are being considered as causes of the crash, the exact cause has not yet been confirmed.
Featured Image Credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images / BBC
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A survivor from the devastating Azerbaijan Airlines crash has spoken of the moment he realised he was alive.
The Azerbaijan Airlines crash, which left 38 dead in Kazakhstan, went down on Christmas Day earlier this week. With 67 people on board, Flight 8243’s crash is currently a mystery as investigations are underway.
The plane, which was traveling to Grozny, Russia from Baku, was filmed as it touched down during an emergency landing and went up in flames as soon as it hit the ground.
Miraculously, 29 people survived – including Zulfugar Asadov, a flight attendant, and Subhonkul Rakhimov, a passenger.
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed on Christmas Day, taking 38 lives (Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images)
From his hospital bed in Baku, Asadov spoke to the New York Times in a phone interview, saying: “Thank God I’m alive.”
Having been in such a deadly crash, it’s understandable that it could take a while to come around to the idea that you survived. Telling Reuters in another interview the moment he realised he had made it, passenger Rakhimov said: “I thought that was my last prayer.”
“After the bang… I thought the plane was going to fall apart,” he added.
Seated in the back of the aircraft, he said his body was hit by something, and that he was twisting before it all went silent. The only thing that he could hear were people moaning – which is when he ‘realized that we have landed’.
He said. “I didn’t know what to do — whether to laugh or cry.”
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29 people miraculously survived the deadly crash (Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan/Anadolu via Getty Images )
According to Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev, 11 people were in critical condition after being pulled from the wreckage.
He said, as per CNN: “The bodies are in poor condition, mostly burnt, all collected. Now they will be in the morgue, and identification will take place.”
While only one survivor’s identity remains unknown, Bozumbayev revealed: “She is unconscious, has no documents, and is in the hospital.”
One woman joined the rescue and told Radio Free Europe’s Kazakh Service that the scene before her made her cry.
She said: “The front (part of the plane) was on fire. We rescued the survivors. Their bodies were covered in blood. They were crying. Everyone was asking for help.”
The woman, known as Elmira, said there were children and teenagers among the survivors.
An investigation is being launched into what caused the plane to go down (Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“A little girl came out. She looked at me and said, ‘Save my mom, my mom is still there’. She was crying and begging, ‘Please save her, save her’,” she said.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russian officials have gone on to launch an investigation into the crash.
Azerbaijan Airlines has suggested that the plane had suffered ‘physical and technical external interference,’ as per translation from the New York Times.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said a Russian Emergencies Ministry plane with medical personnel and equipment was flying to Kazakhstan to assist in the rescue at a summit for the Commonwealth of Independent States.
He said: “Let’s hope for a speedy recovery of the injured ones and, of course, I am sure, a thorough investigation will be carried out. We will coordinate the work of our special and aviation services on all issues related to this tragedy.”
Featured Image Credit: Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan/Anadolu via Getty Images / Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images
Topics: News, Russia, Travel, World News
The devastating final words of a young woman who died on a flight last month have been revealed as a witness admitted the tragedy will be ‘etched’ in his ‘memory for life’.
On 20 June, 24-year-old student Manpreet Kaur boarded a Qantas flight from Melbourne,Australia to Delhi, India.
However, she tragically passed away before the aircraft took off.
Manpreet had moved to Australia in 2020 to chase her dreams of becoming a chef.
In the week prior to her death, the culinary student had been feeling unwell. Her cousin and roommate, Kuldeep Kaur, said she’d had ‘difficult talking’ and ‘no energy to do anything.’
She said Manpreet was travelling home to Dharampura, India so her family could look after her.
But when got on the plane, she reportedly struggled to put her seatbelt on, then ‘fell in front of her seat and died on the spot.’
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Manpreet Kaur had been travelling home to India when she passed away (GoFundMe)
Kuldeep said she ‘couldn’t believe it’ when police told her that she’d passed away.
She shared her cousin’s final words to her with the Daily Mail Australia.
“I drove her to the airport that morning and she said, ‘I will come back’,” Kuldeep said.
A passenger sitting next to Manpreet has since shared further details about the tragedy.
Ravinder Singh told News.com.au that when he took his seat next to Manpreet, he noticed ‘she began scrolling through photos on her mobile phone and stopped at a photograph of an elderly couple.’
“I asked if they were her parents. She smiled and nodded and kept staring at it,” he said.
However, when the plane was preparing for takeoff, Ravinder realised that something was wrong.
Manpreet had put her phone down and had ‘leaned forward to rest her head on the seat in front.’
Her cousin has since revealed Manpreet’s final words before she boarded the Qantas flight (WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)
He tried to tell her to ‘sit upright’ for takeoff and when the plane ‘jerked’ and she didn’t wake up, he called for help from cabin crew. She was later evacuated from the plane.
Ravinder says the devastating incident will be ‘etched’ in his ‘memory for life.’
A post-mortem confirmed that Manpreet had been suffering from tuberculosis. This led authorities to rule that her body could not be transported out of Australia.
Her family have been forced to apply for visas to fly to the country to attend her funeral.
Manpreet’s friend, Gurdip Grewal has has since started a GoFundMe to raise money for her family.
The page reads: “Our dear friend Manpreet left us too soon, leaving a void in our lives that can never be filled.
“As we grieve her passing, we want to come together to honor her memory and support her family in their time of need.
“As we say our final goodbyes, every contribution, big or small, brings us closer to our goal. Your support means the world to us and Manpreet’s family.”
A Qantas spokesperson told news.com.au that the airline’s ‘thoughts are with [Manpreet’s] family and loved ones.’
Featured Image Credit: GoFundMe/WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Health, Travel, World News
A horrific plane crash at an airport in South Korea is feared to have killed all but two of the 181 people on board the plane.
The Jeju Air passenger plane, a Boeing 737-800 jet, had departed from Bangkok, Thailand, and had crash landed at an airport in the South Korean town of Muan.
News footage of the crash showed the plane skidding down the runway with its landing gear appearing to still be closed before colliding with a wall and exploding in a fireball.
Two crew members were found alive in the wreckage of the plane (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
The crash occurred at 9:03am local time and the emergency services rushed to the site of the disaster to try and recover people.
Of the 181 people on board the plane at time of writing only two have been recovered alive from the crash, both of them crew members, leading to fears that the rest of the people on board have perished.
South Korea’s National Fire Agency confirmed that at least 174 people have died in the plane crash – 83 women, 80 men and 11 people who were not immediately identifiable because of the fire.
Officials said that the tail of the plane was the only recognisable part of the wreckage remaining after the crash, and investigations are now underway to determine what happened.
The plane made an emergency landing at an airport in the South Korean town of Muan (Twitter)
According to Korean transport ministry officials, an early assessment of communication logs indicates that the airport control tower issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it landed and gave the aircraft permission to land elsewhere.
A distress signal had been sent out from the plane shortly before it crashed, while the aircraft’s flight data and cockpit recording has been recovered and will be studied as part of the investigation.
Jeju Air offered a ‘deep apology’ over the crash and in a statement the company said it would do the ‘utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident’.
Airline chief Kim E-bae said he feels ‘full responsibility’ for the disaster, and that the company had not identified any mechanical problems with the plane during routine checks.
The plane skidded across the runway and hit a wall (JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)
He added that he would wait for the results of a government investigation into the plane crash and what caused it.
Boeing said they had been in contact with Jeju Air and would be willing to provide assistance in the aftermath of the crash, saying: “We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew.”
This devastating plane crash follows another recent tragedy where an Azerbaijan Airlines plane carrying 67 people went down in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, leaving 38 people dead.
