Distraught families demand answers after 179 are killed in South Korea plane crash

The Jeju Air passenger plane skidded off a runway at Muan international airport, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after the Boeing 737-800 from Bangkok attempted an emergency landing yesterday at 9.03am local time.
Officials said two members of the cabin crew were rescued alive, but all 175 passengers, both pilots and the two other crew members were killed in the fire that swept through the wreckage.
An investigation has been launched, with a bird strike collision among the contributory factors being considered for the crash. Preliminary reports also suggest the plane’s front landing gear failed to deploy. South Korean president Choi Sang-mok has declared a seven-day period of national mourning.
Inside the arrival area of the airport, around 185 miles away from the capital Seoul, authorities called out the names of some of those killed in the crash, triggering an explosion of grief and rage among the passengers’ families in the terminal where their loved ones had been due to return home.
Among the dead were three generations of the same family, with a man in his sixties telling Korean Yonhap news agency that his sister-in-law, daughter, her husband and their young children were tragically all on board. The youngest passenger was a threeyear-old boy, the oldest was 78, while five of the dead were children under the age of 10, authorities said.
Maeng Gi-su, 78, told the BBC his nephew and his nephew’s two sons were on the plane on the family’s first trip abroad. He said: “I can’t believe the entire family has just disappeared. My heart aches so much.”
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 30, 2024-Ausgabe von The Independent.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 30, 2024-Ausgabe von The Independent.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 9.500 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden

Israeli airstrikes kill dozens of Palestinians in Gaza Strip
Starving people also being shot while waiting for aid as locals fear Iran-Israel war has shifted focus from their catastrophe

Who is really to blame for miserable failures of HS27
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, was determined to blame the Conservatives when she announced that what is left of the High Speed Two rail project will be delayed again.

City cruise to victory in Club World Cup opener
The late sending off of Rico Lewis marred a comfortable victory for Manchester City in their Club World Cup opener.

Food prices have risen again are supermarkets at fault?
No, say retail giants who point the finger at the chancellor's tax rises as food inflation jumps to 4.4 per cent. James Moore follows the supply chain to explain why we are paying more

Draper into quarter-finals after victory over Popyrin
When Jack Draper played at Queen's last year he was still something of an unfinished article.

Why Labour's bid to reform ECHR is freighted with risk
Shabana Mahmood has said the European Convention on Human Rights must be reformed to restore public confidence as Keir Starmer's government seeks to tackle the issue head-on.

Meditation, reading and three modest meals a day
Prison logs offer a glimpse into Aung San Suu Kyi's life

THE PACE RACE
James Anderson and Stuart Broad assess England's seamers ahead of 'era-defining' Tests against India and Australia

Two million more to get £150 winter fuel discount
Around 2 million more people will receive an automatic discount on their energy bills this winter as Labour confirms the expansion of an annual scheme.

Trump risks giving Tehran the final showdown it wants
In the feverish rhetoric of this new age of chaos, Donald Trump has upped the temperature dangerously close to delirium with a threat to kill the supreme leader of Iran - not yet, but maybe and Trump knows where he's hiding.