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World's deadliest air crash disasters

Graphic News|Published

World leaders united in grief and solidarity with South Korea on Sunday, following the nation's deadliest plane crash that claimed the lives of 179 people.

Image: AFP

The deadliest air accident ever in South Korea killed 179 people on Sunday, when Jeju Air flight 7C2216 erupted in a fireball while landing at Muan International Airport.

The deadliest air accident in South Korea killed 179 people on Sunday, when Jeju Air flight 7C2216 erupted in a fireball while landing at Muan International Airport.

Image: Graphic News

Image: Graphic News

The crash of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft is the country’s worst aviation disaster in decades.

“Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest (of the aircraft) looks almost impossible to recognise,” Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a press conference.

Two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Lee said.

Yonhap news agency cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.

South Korea’s Transport Ministry announced Monday that it plans to conduct safety inspections of all 101 Boeing 737-800 jetliners operated by the country’s airlines.

The Muan crash is South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster since 1997, when a Korean Airlines plane crashed in Guam, killing 229 of the 254 people aboard.

Graphic News

World's deadliest air crash disasters