The families of the 179 people who’ve confirmed to have died on board on the Jeju Air flight this morning have spoken out.
The Jeju Air passenger flight, (Boeing 737-800), had departed from Bangkok, Thailand, and crash landed at an airport in the South Korean town of Muan.
News footage of the crash showed the plane skidding down the runway at great speed with its landing gear closed before colliding with a wall and exploding.
Eyewitnesses to the crash also confirmed seeing a ‘series of explosions’ and ‘metallic scraping’.
The BBC confirmed that 175 people, including four crew members, were killed in the crash – with some still awaiting identification. Currently, 88 victims have been identified thus far.
Two crew members have been reported as being the only survivors, with one of them reportedly going on to talk about a flock of birds after they were pulled from the wreckage, The Guardian reports.
According to the BBC, some of family members have since spoken out.
One man called Maeng Gi-su, 78, spoke to the outlet about his nephew and his two sons, who had been on the flight.
According to Maeng, the family had gone to celebrate the youngest child’s college entrance exams, and their father had taken them away as a treat.
He said: “I can’t believe the entire family has just disappeared. My heart aches so much.”
BBC correspondents also described hearing weeping on the first floor of Muan International Airport as families grieved their losses.
One woman, whose surname was Kim, spoke to Yonhap News Agency and revealed that her sister had been on the flight, telling them (via The Korea Times): “She’s had so many hardships and gone traveling because her situation was only just beginning to improve.”
Yonhap also reported that some had gathered to listen to an update from officials, according to the BBC, with a person asking: “Is there no possibility of survival at all?”
To which chief of Muan fire department Lee Jeong-hyeon replied: “Regrettably, it appears so,”
The airport authorities and the Red Cross set up more than a dozen yellow tents for bereaved families, where they were given wool blankets to keep warm.
Yonhap News Agency also reports that the ages of the passengers range from three to 78-years-old, however, most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
The transport ministry said that a distress signal had been sent out from the plane before it landed, with the plane’s black boxes, which include flight data and cockpit recording, having been recovered and will be studied to determine the cause of the crash.
