The last nine minutes in the air were key for the flight 7C2216 from the south korean Jeju Waterwhich It crashed today, Sunday, after touching down without the landing gear deployed and going off the runway. at Muan airport (290 kilometers southwest of Seoul), leaving 179 dead and only two survivors.
This is a chronological reconstruction approximate estimate of the incident based on the information provided by the South Korean Government, flight trackers and airport authorities.
– 2.29 Thailand local time (19.29 GMT on Saturday). Flight 7C2216, a Boeing 737-800operated by the low-cost airline Jeju Air, takes off one hour late from Suvarnabhumi airport, the main airport in Bangkok (Thailand), heading to Muan (South Korea). There are 181 people on board, six of them crew. Of the 175 passengers, only two are Thai and the rest are South Korean, many of them returning from vacation with family.
– 8.54 South Korean local time (23.54 GMT on Saturday). According to the Ministry of Territory, Infrastructure and Transport, the plane is approaching its destination from the south and receives permission from the control tower to land on runway 1 of Muan International Airport.
– 8.57 South Korean local time (23.57 GMT on Saturday). The Muan control tower emits a bird risk alert when detecting bird activity around the plane’s path.
– 8.59 South Korean local time (23.59 GMT on Saturday). The pilot of 7C2216 emits a “mayday” alert or help, it gains altitude again and begins a new approach maneuver, to head towards its destination this time from the north. Images taken by amateurs show at that moment smoke and flames in the right engine of the device.
– 9.00 South Korean local time (00.00 GMT). The control tower authorizes the plane to landing on runway 19that is, in the opposite direction to the direction from which the device should initially try to touch down.
– 9.03 South Korean local time (00.03 GMT). The Boeing lands on runway 19. Images captured from the airport show that The landing gear does not deploy and activation of other braking systems is not seen either.like the ‘spoilers’, the moving plates located on the upper part of the wings. After sliding on its belly for about 10 seconds, the device ends up leaving the track and the impact against a wall causes it to explode.
– 9.10 South Korean local time (00.10 GMT). The South Korean Ministry of Transportation is aware of the accident through the alert issued by the airport operator. The minister, Park Sang-woo, CEOs and other officials begin an emergency meeting 13 minutes later.
– Around 12:20 local South Korean time (3.20 GMT). Rescue teams report that the plane has almost completely burned and that except for two survivors, two on-board attendants who were traveling in the tail of the device (the area least damaged by the explosion), they assume that the others 179 occupants have lost their lives. Even so, at that time there is only talk of just over 60 confirmed deaths.
– 2:24 p.m. South Korean local time (5.20 GMT). The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) is located, thus completing the recovery of black boxessince the flight data recorder (FDR) has been found about three hours earlier. By then the official death toll is already 85.
-20:38 South Korean local time (11.38 GMT). The fire department and the rest of the rescue teams report that The last occupant of the missing flight has been found, so the final balance of the tragedy is 179 dead and two survivors.which is the worst plane accident ever to occur on South Korean soil.
(With information from EFE)
