Editor-DN
Moan:
South Korean police raided the offices of Jeju Air and the operator of Moan International Airport on Thursday as they stepped up their investigation into the fatal crash of a Boeing 737-800 that killed 179 people.
The flight was carrying 181 passengers and crew from Thailand to South Korea on Sunday when it issued a mayday call and went belly-up before hitting an obstacle, killing all but two flight attendants. The riders were killed.
Authorities conducted search and seizure operations Thursday at Moan Airport where Flight 2216 crashed, a regional aviation office in the southwestern city and Jeju Air’s office in the capital, Seoul, police said.
Jeju Air chief executive Kim Eb has also been banned from leaving the country as investigations continue, police said separately.
“Police intend to quickly and rigorously determine the cause and responsibility for this accident in accordance with the law and regulations,” police said in a statement sent to AFP.
At Moan Airport on Thursday, soldiers, police and white-coated investigators were still examining the crash site, as orange-robed monks held prayers nearby.
Inside the airport, the stairs were covered with colorful notes after being left by mourners.
“Honey, I miss you so much,” one of them said.
“Even if you faced lonely and painful moments of death, now you can fly like a butterfly,” wrote another.
Relatives also left flowers and food near the crash site, including teok-guk — a rice cake soup traditionally enjoyed on New Year’s Day in South Korea — as they said goodbye. shedding tears.
Star chefs from Netflix’s megahit cooking competition show “Culinary Class Wars,” including Ahn Yu-seong, joined volunteers in Muan this week to prepare meals for the victims’ families.
And people across the country were paying in advance for coffee at airport cafes from far and wide so that families of the victims, who have been camped out in lounges since Sunday, waiting for news, could drink for free.
More bodies were released to families on Thursday to prepare for the last rites, the Lands Ministry said.
Concrete barrier
Officials initially pointed to a bird strike as a possible cause of the crash, and have since said the investigation is also examining the role of a concrete barrier at the end of the runway.
Dramatic video shows the plane colliding before bursting into flames.
Yonhap quoted authorities as saying that a warrant was issued at Moan Airport on charges of professional negligence resulting in death.
“Police are collecting evidence regarding the legitimacy of the airport’s localizer,” Yonhap said, referring to the concrete wall housing an antenna array at the end of the runway.
He added that they are also looking for communication records between the control tower and the pilot shortly before the plane crashed.
Airports across the country are being inspected to check for other similar locals, the Lands Ministry said in a statement.
Some experts have suggested that the disaster could have been less deadly if the installation had not been concrete.
Boeing inspection
South Korea has also announced that it will inspect all Boeing 737-800 planes operated by its carrier, with a focus on the landing gear, which appears to have been damaged during Sunday’s crash. had gone
South Korea’s Acting President Choi Sang-muk said on Thursday that “immediate action” should be taken if the investigation reveals any problems with the plane’s model.
Officials had earlier said that 101 aircraft of the same model were being operated by six different airlines.
“Since there is a lot of public concern about the aircraft model involved in the accident, the Ministry of Transport and related agencies should conduct a thorough inspection of operation maintenance, education and training,” Choi said on Thursday.
This accident is the worst aviation accident on South Korean soil.
South Korean officials have completed the initial release of data for the cockpit voice recorder, but the flight data recorder was damaged and had to be sent to the United States for analysis, officials said Wednesday.
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
