Did bird collisions contribute to the South Korean plane crash? What we know

After killing more than 170 people A plane crashed while landing in South Korea On Sunday morning.

The Jeju Air plane ran off the runway before colliding with a wall at Muan International Airport in the southwest of the country.

The plane, which was returning from Bangkok in Thailand, was carrying 181 people, 179 of whom died, while two crew members were rescued from the wreckage.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, which fire officials indicated may have been caused by a bird strike and bad weather conditions. But experts warned that the accident may have been caused by a number of factors.

The flight, 7C2216, was a Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air, Korea's most popular low-cost airline.

The plane arrived in Muan at around 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT).

A South Korean transport official said the plane was trying to land but was forced to stop after air traffic control issued a bird strike warning – an alert about the risk of colliding with birds.

The official added that after about two minutes, the pilot called for help and the Air Traffic Command gave the plane permission to land from the opposite direction.

Local media reported that a passenger on the plane sent a message to one of his relatives saying that a bird “was stuck in its wing” and that the plane was unable to land.

One of the videos shows the plane landing without using its wheels or any other landing gear. The plane skidded down the runway and hit a wall before bursting into flames.

One witness told South Korean news agency Yonhap that they heard a “loud bang” followed by a “series of explosions.”

Videos from the scene show the plane on fire and smoke rising into the sky. Fire crews have since extinguished the fire.

The back of the plane can be identified but “one cannot recognize what the rest of the plane looks like,” Lee Jeong-hyun, head of the Muan Fire Department, said in a televised news conference.

He said bird collisions and bad weather may have caused the plane to crash, but the exact cause is still under investigation. The voice and flight recorders were recovered from the plane.

Yonhap News Agency quoted the head of Jeju Airlines' management as saying that the accident was not due to “any maintenance issues.”

The South Korean Department of Transport said that the lead pilot on the flight has held this position since 2019 and has more than 6,800 flight hours of experience.

A bird collision is a collision between an aircraft in flight and a bird. They're so common that in the UK, more than 1,400 bird collisions were reported in 2022, of which only about 100 affected the aircraft, according to Data from the Civil Aviation Authority.

The most famous bird strike occurred in 2009, when a bird attacked An Airbus plane crashed into the Hudson River in New York After colliding with a flock of geese. All 155 passengers and crew survived.

Professor Doug Drury, who studies aviation at CQUniversity Australia, wrote in an article for Conversation This summer, Boeing's planes have turboprop engines, which can be severely damaged by birds.

He said pilots are trained to be especially careful during the early morning or at sunset, when birds are most active.

The plane was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members. Authorities said two of the passengers were Thai and the rest were believed to be from South Korea. It is believed that many of them were returning from a Christmas holiday in Thailand.

The official death toll stands at 179, making it the deadliest plane crash in South Korean history.

All passengers and four crew members died.

So far, authorities have identified at least 88 bodies.

Five of the dead were children under 10 years old, authorities said, citing a passenger statement. The youngest passenger was a three-year-old boy and the oldest was 78 years old.

South Korea's National Fire Agency said two crew members – a man and a woman – survived the crash. She added that they were found in the back of the plane after it crashed and were taken to the hospital.

More than 1,500 emergency personnel were deployed as part of the recovery effort, including 490 firefighters and 455 police officers. They searched the area around the runway for parts of the plane and those on board.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok declared a special disaster area in Muan, making central government funding available to the local government and victims.

All flights to and from Muan International Airport have been cancelled.

The families of the accident victims went to the airport hoping to find out what happened to their relatives. Video footage from Reuters shows officials reading the victims' names aloud.

The airport authorities and the Red Cross set up more than a dozen tents at the airport for the bereaved families to grieve in private.

The sounds of crying echoed through the station. Some are frustrated by how long it takes to identify bodies.

Jeju Air apologized to the families. Its CEO said in a press conference that the company has no history of accidents. Sunday's accident is believed to be the only fatal accident since the company's launch in 2005.

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing offered its condolences to those affected.

“I express my sincere condolences to the many victims of the accident. I will do everything in my power to make the injured recover quickly,” said Choe, South Korea's acting president.

The government announced a period of national mourning in the country for the next seven days, during which flags in government offices will be flown at half-mast.