South Korea orders emergency safety probe of airline operations after plane crash kills 179
South Korean acting President Choi Sang-mok ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire airline operation on Monday, a day after a fiery Jeju Air crash killed 179 people.
Choi, who assumed temporary duties as president only on Friday, chaired a disaster control meeting on Monday, according to the country’s Yonhap News Agency.
"To the honorable citizens of our nation, as acting president, my heart aches as we face this unforeseen tragedy amid ongoing economic hardships," Choi said during the meeting, Yonhap reported.
Choi committed to deploying all the government’s resources to supporting the families of the 179 people who died in the Jeju Air plane crash at Muan International Airport on Sunday, as well as the two survivors, Yonhap reported.
He pledged to be transparent through the investigation.
"We will transparently disclose the progress of the investigation into the accident, even before the final results are released, and keep the bereaved families informed," Choi said at the meeting, according to Yonhap.
The meeting came one day after a passenger plane that departed from Bangkok, Thailand, made a belly-landing at Muan International Airport on Sunday morning local time.
Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 had 181 people on board, including 175 passengers, four flight attendants and two pilots. The two survivors were both crew members rescued from the back of the plane during the initial search, Yonhap reported.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held a briefing Sunday afternoon and reported that the control tower had warned of birds in the area just before landing. The pilot then sent out a “mayday” signal, and the airplane went up in flames a couple of minutes later.
“It is presumed to have been a bird strike. Smoke came out of one of the engines and then it exploded,” one surviving crew member said in a witness report, Yonhap reported.
U.S. investigators said Sunday they would assist South Korea in its investigation of the plane crash.
The team of U.S. investigators will include the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing, which manufactured the aircraft that went up in flames.