Just two of the 181 on board survived South Korea plane crash, emergency officials confirm

179 dead in South Korea’s worst plane crash in years

BREAKING: Video shows crash of Jeju Air Flight 2216 in South Korea. 181 people on board pic.twitter.com/9rQUC0Yxt8

— BNO News (@BNONews) December 29, 2024

The final death toll from the plane crash in South Korea is 179, meaning just two people survived, the fire service says.

Two crew members survived the Jeju Air crash after being pulled from the plane’s tail, the fire service previously said. Both are in hospital, but their condition is not yet known.

Among the dead, 84 are male and 85 are female while the genders of 10 people have not been confirmed, according to the authority.

Jeju Air crash is deadliest aviation disaster to hit South Korea since 1997

The Jeju Air crash in South Korea on Sunday is the deadliest aviation disaster to hit the country since 1997, when a Korean Airlines flight crashed in the Guam jungle, killing 228 people.

There have been several incidents since 1997, but few involved any reported fatalities.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been no other accidents involving fatalities on passenger flights in South Korea since April 2002.

In that April 2002 incident, an Air China Boeing 767-2J6ER crashed into a mountain while attempting to land in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, according to an accident report published by the Korea Aviation–Accident Investigation Board.

Of the 166 people on board, 129 of them, including two copilots, were killed, the report said.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Scores of people died when a passenger jet crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday. Two crew members were the only survivors after the plane, which was carrying 181 people, landed on its belly, skidded off a runway and burst into flames, officials said. The aviation disaster is South Korea’s deadliest in more than two decades.

• Local fire officials and aviation experts say some sort of landing gear malfunction was likely. The pilot also made a mayday call shortly after the control tower warned about birds in the area. The crash investigation could take years, and experts have urged local officials not to speculate on its cause.

• The plane, listed as a Boeing 737-800 on FlightAware, had traveled from Bangkok, Thailand. Analysts say both the Boeing 787-800 and Jeju Air, South Korea’s largest low-cost airline, have a strong safety record. There have been harrowing scenes inside Muan International Airport, where relatives have been demanding answers from officials.