(MENAFN- Live Mint) Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashed five minutes after the pilot issued a "mayday" warning. The incident happened on Sunday, December 29. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft, carrying 181 aboard, was flying from Bangkok to Muan airport in South Korea. The aircraft departed from Bangkok at 1:30 am (local time) and was scheduled to land in Muan at 8:30 am.
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According to the local media, the transport Ministry had confirmed on Sunday that the control tower at Muan International Airport had issued a bird strike warning to the Jeju Air flight moment before the crash.
The first landing attempt was made around 8:54 am. The plane failed to land on its first attempt. It then performed a go-around –“a maneuver in which a pilot aborts a landing and returns to the air to try again,” Korea Herald reported.
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According to the transport ministry, the airport's control tower alerted the flight crew about potential bird strike risks at 8:57 am. Just one minute later, at 8:58 am, the pilot of the aircraft issued a mayday distress signal.
The plane then attempted an emergency landing on the runway around 9 am. It crashed three minutes later, at 9:03 am.
A video clip showed the plane, its landing gear still retracted, attempting a belly landing at the Muan International Airport. Eventually, the plane skidded along the runway, with smoke trailing behind, until it slammed into a wall at the end and burst into flames.
Later, the transport ministry was quoted by Korea Herald as saying that Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 was attempting to land when it veered off the runway. "Five minutes after the pilot signaled mayday, the plane collided with the perimeter fence and burst into flames," it added.
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All 175 passengers and four of the six crew members onboard were killed. Rescue workers plucked two survivors – flight attendants aged 25 and 33 – from the wreckage.
Local media deemed the crash South Korea's "worst-ever" aviation disaster.
Both black boxes – the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder – were found. Initial investigations pointed to a bird strike as the likely cause of the landing gear malfunction.
(With inputs from local media)
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