Almost all victims of the South Korean crash flight identified

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• Following the plane crash at Muan Airport in South Korea, investigators have established the identities of almost all the fatalities.
• The crash landing claimed the lives of 179 people.
• The authorities have already handed over the first bodies to their families for burial.

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Following the devastating plane crash at South Korea's Muan Airport, investigators have established the identity of almost all the fatalities. According to the Ministry of Transport, 174 of the 179 passengers who died on flight 7C2216 have been identified. The authorities have already handed over the first bodies to their families for burial.

The closure of the runway at the airport in the southwest of the country has been extended until January 7 to allow further investigation of the accident site. In addition to Korean experts, representatives of the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing and the US authority NTSB, which investigates aviation accidents, are also on site.

Searching for the cause

The recovery teams have already found the two flight recorders. The one with the voice recordings from the cockpit was in relatively good condition, reported the Yonhap news agency. The second one with the flight data was damaged. The experts must now examine how they can obtain the data. It is therefore likely to be some time before the results are available.

179 dead, two survivors

The plane crash in South Korea in five points

On Sunday morning (local time), a Boeing 737-800 of the South Korean low-cost airline Jeju Air with 181 passengers landed in Muan without its landing gear deployed and skidded off the runway. The plane coming from Bangkok crashed into a wall and burst into flames. Apart from two Thai nationals, only Koreans were on board. Only two crew members survived the crash landing.

It is the most devastating airplane accident on South Korean soil to date. The authorities suspect that the accident was caused by a bird strike shortly before landing. The tower had initially warned of such a collision with birds. Immediately afterwards, the pilots themselves reported a bird strike via a mayday emergency call. It is still unclear how this collision could have damaged the landing gear.

Investigation of all aircraft

Following the accident, Seoul ordered the maintenance records of all national airlines' Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which are popular with low-cost airlines, to be checked. According to the Ministry of Transportation, six airlines were investigated. According to Yonhap, the South Korean armed forces also checked aircraft of a similar type in their fleets.