The investigation into a plane crash in South Korea on Sunday that killed all but two of the 181 people on board intensified on Tuesday as officials faced pressure to explain how the jetliner lost control and identify the victims. Let it be done.
Families of the dead – 175 passengers and four crew – are holding out at Muan International Airport, the site of the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil, to demand more information from authorities.
The national police agency said it had deployed additional officers and would use rapid DNA analyzers to speed up the identification of the five bodies. All other victims have been identified but most are still in a makeshift morgue at the airport.
The exact cause of the accident is still unknown. Early theories focused on bird strikes, although some experts do not believe such a collision – a relatively common occurrence in aviation – would have been strong enough to prevent the pilot from lowering the landing gear of the Boeing 737-800 because It came near the runway. ,
In addition to the bird strike, investigators are trying to establish whether any of the plane’s control systems were disabled, as well as why the pilot attempted to land so soon after declaring an emergency. The aircraft, powered by two CFM 56-7B26 engines, appeared to be traveling at high speed when the pilot attempted a “belly landing”.
“I can’t think of any reason to be forced to make a landing like this,” said aviation safety expert John Nance, a former military and commercial pilot who flies 737 aircraft for Alaska Airlines.
Criticism of the airport’s layout was increasing, with aviation experts questioning why a large earthen and concrete embankment used to support navigation equipment was built about 250 meters from the end of the runway.
It is believed that the passengers were killed when Jeju Air flight 7C2216 from Bangkok collided with the barrier, causing the passengers to fall into nearby fields.
South Korean officials said the embankment was built according to industry standards, adding that airports in other countries had similar features.
But some experts questioned the need to build it so close to the end of the runway.
John Cox, chief executive of Safety Operating Systems and former 737 pilot, claimed that the runway design did not meet industry best practices, which require a raised edge within at least 300 meters of the end of the runway – like any rigid structure. Prevents.
The crash poses a serious challenge to South Korea’s new acting President Choi Sang-mok, who has ordered an emergency safety inspection of the county’s entire airline operations, while the Transportation Ministry is grounding all 101 Boeing 737s currently in operation in the country. Will inspect 800. by the end of the week.
Choi, who replaced impeached former President Han Duk-soo over the weekend, said the priority was to identify remaining victims and support the families of the passengers. “Even before the final results are out, we want the authorities to disclose the accident investigation process in a transparent manner and inform the bereaved families immediately,” he said at the disaster management meeting.
Choi immediately declared seven days of mourning and paid his respects at a memorial at the crash site. Similar memorials have been set up and flags flown at half-mast at other locations across the country.
Representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and aircraft maker Boeing have joined the investigative body and plan to meet on Tuesday in Muan, 300 km southwest of Seoul.
Establishing the cause of the crash may prove more complex and time-consuming than usual, as the plane’s damaged flight data recorder was missing key pieces, making it more difficult to extract its data, the ministry said. Yonhap news agency said the second “black box” containing the cockpit voice recorder was in better condition.
Park Han-shin, whose brother died in the crash, said he was told by authorities that his brother had been identified, but added that he had not been able to see his body.
South Korean officials will be under pressure to avoid a repeat of the Sewol ferry disaster in April 2014, which killed more than 300 people, mostly high school students. Many relatives of the victims complained that it took a long time for the authorities to identify the dead and establish the cause of the accident.
The bodies of four victims identified in Sunday’s crash have been handed over to their families, Yonhap said, citing local officials.