At least 47 people are dead after a plane crashed during landing at Muan International Airport in South Korea.Jeju Air Flight 2216 was carrying 175 passengers and six flight attendants when the aircraft veered off the runway and crashed into a fence, Yonhap news reported on Sunday.According to the local news outlet, the accident occurred at 9.07am when the plane was landing in South Jeolla Province, about 280 kilometres from the Seoul. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft was returning from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand.
Notably, the horrific plane crash in South Korea comes just a few days after the Azerbaijan Airline plane crash which took place near Kazakhstan's Aktau last week, killing 38 of the 67 people on board and leaving all others injured.The country’s local broadcaster MBC also released footage of the Jeju Air Flight 2216 crash, showing smoke streaming out from the engines, before the entire aircraft gets engulfed in flames.
While the exact cause behind the plane crash is yet to be revealed, initial reports indicate that a failure of the plane’s landing gear, possibly due to a bird strike, could be to blame. Yonhap News Agency reported that the investigation is focusing on these possibilities. Meanwhile, South Korea’s acting president Choi Sang-mok instructed officials to mobilise all available resources to aid the rescue operation. "All related agencies... must mobilise all available resources to save the personnel," Choi stated as he convened an emergency meeting with cabinet members.