Probers Extract Data From Jeju Air Black Box

Investigators probing a Jeju Air crash which killed 179 in South Korea's worst aviation disaster on home soil have extracted the initial data from one of the Boeing 737-800's black boxes, an official said on Jan. 1.

The plane was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea when it issued a mayday call and belly-landed before hitting a barrier and bursting into flames, killing everyone aboard except two flight attendants pulled from the burning wreckage.

South Korean and US investigators, including from Boeing, have been combing over the crash site in southwestern Muan since the disaster on Dec. 29.

Both of the plane's black boxes were retrieved, and for the cockpit voice recorder, "the initial extraction has already been completed," said deputy minister for civil aviation Joo Jong-wan.

"Based on this preliminary data, we plan to start converting it into audio format," he said, meaning investigators would be able to hear the pilots' final communications.

The second black box, the flight data recorder, "was found with a missing connector," Joo said.