An urgent warning was issued to the pilots of the Jeju Air plane just moments before the crash.
Air traffic control issued a warning to the Jeju Air aircraft before it crash-landed at Muan International Airport on Sunday, December 29.
The Boeing 737-800, which had departed from Bangkok, Thailand, attempted to land in Muan, South Korea, at 9:03 am local time.
Footage of the incident shows the plane skidding down the runway without its landing gear deployed before colliding with a concrete wall and bursting into flames. Eyewitnesses reported hearing a series of explosions and metallic scraping sounds.
Emergency services quickly responded to the wreckage, but tragically, only two of the 181 passengers and crew onboard survived. The sole survivors were two crew members, who were rescued shortly after the crash that morning.
Several news outlets, including the BBC, reported that one of the late passengers sent a “heartbreaking” final message to a family member about a bird being “stuck in the wing” of the plane.
An investigation into the incident has revealed that air traffic control issued a bird strike warning to the plane just minutes before the crash, according to The Guardian.
Yonhap News also reported that one of the surviving crew members mentioned a bird strike after being rescued from the wreckage.
The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation, but it has drawn attention to Muan International Airport’s history of similar tragic incidents, according to Yonhap.
The airport has the highest rate of bird strikes among South Korea’s 14 regional airports, with 10 incidents reported between 2019 and August 2024, according to data submitted to the Korea Airports Corporation.
Muan International Airport’s bird strike rate of 0.09 percent may seem small, but when compared to Gimpo International Airport (0.018 percent) and Jeju International Airport (0.013 percent), it is notably high.
Aviation experts warn that bird strikes can be life-threatening, and Muan’s elevated rate is attributed to its proximity to fields and coastal areas.
Aviation expert David Learmount told Sky News that the survivors could have potentially lived if not for the concrete wall. He explained, “Not only is there no justification for [the wall] to be there, I think it’s verging on criminal to have it there. That kind of structure should not be there. That is awful. That is unbelievably awful.”
He further praised the pilot, stating, “He has brought it down beautifully given the circumstances; they are going very fast, but the plane is still intact as it slides along the ground.”
