
A plane went off the runway at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, and caught fire on Sunday. Yonhap News Agency, via Reuters
Updated
A passenger plane carrying 181 people crashed while landing in an airport in southwestern South Korea on Sunday, killing at least 62 people, officials said.
The plane, operated by South Korea’s Jeju Air, was landing at Muan International Airport when it veered off the runway, local fire department officials said.
At least 58 bodies have been recovered but that number is not final, another fire official told Reuters.
Two people were found alive and rescue operations were under way, a Muan fire official said. Yonhap news agency said three people had been rescued.
Authorities were working to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official told Reuters shortly after the crash.
Photos from the South Korean news agency Yonhap showed a tail section of the plane separated and engulfed in orange flames with black smoke billowing up. The plane appears to have hit a concrete wall, according to the photos.
The plane, operating as Jeju Air flight 7C2216 and flying from Bangkok to Muan, was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members when the accident happened, around 9 a.m.
The crash comes as South Korea has been dealing with a political crisis following an ill-fated bid early this month by President Yoon Suk Yeol to declare martial law for the first time in decades. Lawmakers voted on Dec. 14 to impeach Mr. Yoon.
Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, the acting president, on Sunday instructed his government to mobilize all equipment and personnel available to rescue as many people as possible, Mr. Choi’s office said.
載有181人的韓國客機在機場迫降,造成至少47人死亡
官員稱,週日,一架載有 181 人的客機在韓國西南部的機場降落時墜毀,造成至少 47 人死亡。
當地消防部門官員稱,這架由韓國濟州航空營運的飛機在務安國際機場降落時衝出跑道。
務安市消防局官員李成實 (Lee Seong-sil) 表示,救援人員發現了 23 具屍體,正在將其送往當地醫院。 「我們正在努力尋找更多傷亡人員,」他說。
韓國聯合通訊社的照片顯示,飛機尾部分離,被橙色火焰吞沒,黑煙滾滾。 從照片來看,飛機似乎撞上了混凝土牆。
事故發生於上午 9 點左右,這架航班為濟州航空 7C2216,從曼谷飛往務安,機上載有 175 名乘客和 6 名機組人員。
這起事故發生之際,韓國一直在應對一場政治危機,此前韓國總統尹錫烈本月初曾試圖宣布數十年來的首次戒嚴令,但結果不幸。 議員們於 12 月 14 日投票彈劾尹先生。
崔尚木辦公室表示,代總統、副總理崔尚木週日指示政府調動所有可用設備和人員來營救盡可能多的人。
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