All but two feared dead in South Korea plane crash

Video showed the Jeju Air plane from Bangkok landing on its belly at Muan International Airport, skidding off the runway as smoke streamed out from the engines, before crashing into a wall and exploding in flames.

“Passengers were ejected from the aircraft after it collided with the wall, leaving little chance of survival,” a local fire official told families at a briefing, according to a statement released by the fire brigade.

“The plane is almost completely destroyed, and identifying the deceased is proving difficult. The process is taking time as we locate and recover the remains,” he was quoted as saying.

Only two people were rescued, both flight attendants and 124 people were confirmed dead by mid-afternoon, the fire department said in a statement.

An AFP photographer saw the burned-out wreckage of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the runway at Muan — some 288 kilometers southwest of Seoul — as firefighters and emergency vehicles worked nearby.

The accident took place in a matter of minutes from 9:03 am on Sunday during the landing of Jeju Air Flight 2216, the Ministry of Land said, with 175 passengers, including two Thai nationals, and six crew onboard.