By Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea's Ministry of Transport has extended special inspections of all Boeing 737-800 planes operated by the country's airlines for a week, a ministry official said, after the worst aviation disaster on the country's soil. Friday.
The ministry began the inspections following the crash of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 on Sunday, killing 179 people. The official told Reuters that the inspections were supposed to be completed on Friday, but were extended until January 10, without explaining the reason.
A Jeju Airlines flight from Bangkok to Muan Province in southwestern South Korea landed, overshot the runway at the regional airport, and exploded and caught fire after colliding with a bridge.
The ministry said it will inspect engines, maintenance records and landing gear on all 737-800 aircraft, and the airline's operations may be suspended due to serious violations.
The Ministry of Transport also held an emergency meeting with the CEOs of 11 airlines, including major Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, to discuss measures to enhance aviation safety, the ministry official said.
The South Korean investigation team said on Friday that two of its members will leave for the United States next week to analyze the flight data recorder of the accident in cooperation with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The team is also studying the plane's wreckage and conducting interviews with airport control tower officials.
Yonhap News Agency said investigators will analyze data on 107 mobile phones recovered from the crash site, including text messages, for clues about what happened before the crash.
Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok on Friday urged investigators to work quickly to collect evidence from the scene and analyze the audio recorder.
Unanswered questions include why the plane did not deploy its landing gear and what caused the pilot to apparently rush to make a second attempt to land after informing air traffic control that the plane had been attacked by birds and declaring an emergency.
Police said on Thursday they were searching Jeju Air and the operator of Muan International Airport and preventing Jeju Air CEO Kim Ee-bae and another unidentified official from leaving the country.
