Jeju Air’s Boeing 737-800 was coming into land after flying from Thailand when its landing gear appears to have malfunctioned and caused the plane to explode into a fireball, killing 179 of the 181 people on board
The plane involved in a horror crash in South Korea on Sunday had been in another collision just three years ago, a bombshell investigation has revealed.
Jeju Air previously claimed that its plane had no history of accidents. However, it was involved in a collision during take off from Gimpo Airport back in 2021 when the tail of the Boeing 737-800’s fuselage touched the runway. Though the huge jet was damaged, pilots continued to fly. As a result, the company was fined more than £108,000.
On Sunday, nearly 200 people died when Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 skidded on a runway and crashed. The aircraft had flown from Thailand to South Korea where, when it came into land, its landing gear seemed to malfunction. Sunday’s crash was the worst in the country for several decades.
Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi-bae was questioned over the crash that killed 179 of the 181 people on board, but he failed to mention this previous accident. Korea Airports Corporation contradicted his statement, saying: “After checking the statistical system, the same plane had an accident three years ago”.
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said: “It is a violation of safety regulations to fly without properly checking for damage to a part of the aircraft.”
Ministry member Park Yong-gap said: “In particular, the aircraft involved in this accident had a collision accident three years ago while taking off. Yesterday, Jeju Air said that it had no accident history at all. Isn’t that a false explanation?”
Jeju claimed that “the accident three years ago was so minor that we classified it as a non-accident under the Aviation Act. “We have paid the full fine and completed all inspections and maintenance, and are now operating normally,” the company added.
Witnesses told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that they saw sparks and heard an explosion. Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was staying near the airport, said he saw a spark on the right wing shortly before the crash. He said he saw “black smoke billowing into the sky” after hearing a “loud explosion”.
Both of the survivors of the crash were crew members and rescued in the plane’s tail section. The rest of the plane was destroyed. The passengers were predominantly South Korean, although they included two Thai nationals. The Transport Ministry says 146 bodies have been identified and are collecting DNA and fingerprint samples from the other 33. It is believed most of the tourists were in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
