The police of South Korea made searches on Thursday in the muan airport and in the airline offices Jeju Water as part of the investigation into the accident Boeing 737-800 which on December 29 landed without landing gear, causing the death of 179 personas. According to the police, a search and seizure operation was carried out at the aforementioned premises and at a regional aviation office.
“Police plan to quickly and rigorously determine the cause and responsibility for this accident.“, they indicated in a statement cited by the news agency AFP. Following the incident, the South Korean government ordered special inspections of all Boeing 737-800 operational in the country.
The interim president, Choi Sang-mokstated that they will take “immediate actions” if failures are detected in this aircraft model. Meanwhile, at Muan airport, relatives and neighbors built a memorial with flowers and messages in honor of the victims.
On Wednesday, South Korean authorities began analyzing preliminary data from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder. According to the vice minister of civil aviation, Joo Jong Waninvestigators are processing the pilots’ latest communications, obtained from the black box, to clarify the moments prior to the accident.
The aircraft, which was carrying 181 personas from Thailand to South Korea, issued an emergency call before making an emergency landing that ended in tragedy. According to Joo, the flight data recorder was recovered, but it has damage that complicates the extraction of information.
Additionally, preliminary reports indicate that the landing gear worked during a failed first landing attempt, but may have failed on the second attempt.
A navigation system known as a “locator,” installed in the concrete structure with which the plane collided, is also being investigated as a possible factor that aggravated the tragedy.
Local and US experts, including the NTSB y Boeingare working on an exhaustive review of the evidence and testimonies to determine the exact causes of the incident.
The only two survivors of the accident Boeing 737-800 de Jeju Air in it muan airportidentified as Lee Mo33 years old, and a 25-year-old woman named Kooowe their miraculous survival to the fact that they were in the tail of the plane, the only part of the fuselage that maintained its shape after the impact and subsequent fire.
The Muan fire chief, Lee Jung-hyunexplained that “only the tail retained some of its shape. The rest of the fuselage was completely destroyed,” a factor that was crucial for both crew members to be rescued alive from the rubble.
Lee Moa flight attendant who was assigned to duty in the rear of the plane, suffered fractures to his left shoulder and head injuries.
He was initially transferred to a hospital in Mokpo before being sent to the Ewha Womans University Hospitalin Seoul, where he remains under intensive observation due to the risk of serious consequences, including paralysis.
Kooalso a member of the crew, suffered less severe injuries, such as lacerations to the scalp and fractures to both ankles, and is currently receiving treatment at the Asan Medical Centerin Seoul.
According to experts, the rear section of the aircraft offered some protection against the impact against the concrete wall and the flames, being key to its survival.
(With information from AFP)
