By David Torough, Abuja

A Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea crashed on arrival yesterday, smashing into a barrier and bursting into flames, killing everyone aboard except for two flight attendants plucked from the wreckage.

According to AFP, a bird strike was cited by authorities as the likely cause of the crash — the worst ever aviation disaster on South Korean soil.

Similarly, a PAL Airlines aircraft, operating as Air Canada flight AC2259, executed an emergency landing at Halifax Airport, Canada, following a landing gear malfunction.

Passengers on the Jeju Air plane were flung out of the plane and it was “almost completely destroyed”, according to fire officials.

Video showed the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 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.

“Of the 179 dead, 65 have been identified,” the country’s fire agency said, adding that DNA retrieval had begun.

Inside the airport terminal, tearful family members gathered to wait for news.

An official began calling out the names of the 65 victims who had been identified, with each name triggering fresh cries of grief from waiting relatives.

Only two people — both flight attendants — were rescued from the crash, the fire department said.

“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.

Both black boxes — the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder — have been found, deputy transport minister Joo Jong-wan said at a briefing.

Under floodlights, rescue workers used a giant yellow crane to lift the burned-out fuselage of the orange-and-white aircraft on the runway at Muan — some 288 kilometres (about 180 miles) southwest of Seoul.

Bits of plane seats and luggage were strewn across the field next to the runway, not far from the charred tail, offering a glimpse into the catastrophic impact of the crash.

 ‘Mayday’

All of the passengers were Korean apart from two Thais, with the youngest a three-year-old boy and the oldest a 78-year-old, authorities said.

“I had a son on board that plane,” an elderly man waiting in the airport lounge, who asked not to be named, said.

“My younger sister went to heaven today,” a 65-year-old woman, who gave only her surname Jo, said.

Boeing said in a statement that it was in touch with Jeju Air and stood “ready to support them”.

 Engulfed in flames

South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok, who only took office Friday, convened an emergency cabinet meeting and then visited the crash site at Muan.

“The entire government is working closely together to manage the aftermath of the accident… making every effort to ensure thorough support for the bereaved families,” he said.

The country declared a seven-day national mourning period effective from Sunday, with memorial altars to be set up nationwide.

It is the first fatal accident in the history of Jeju Air, one of South Korea’s largest low-cost carriers, which was set up in 2005.

On August 12, 2007, a Bombardier Q400 operated by Jeju Air carrying 74 passengers came off the runway due to strong winds at the southern Busan-Gimhae airport, resulting in a dozen injuries.

South Korea’s aviation industry has a solid track record for safety, experts say.

A number of fatal aviation accidents have occurred globally due to bird strikes, which can cause a loss of power if the animals are sucked into the air intakes.

In 2009, a US Airways Airbus A320 famously landed in New York’s Hudson River after bird strikes on both of its engines, in an incident widely known as the “Miracle on the Hudson” because there was no loss of life.

The PAL Airlines aircraft

The PAL Airlines aircraft incident, which occurred around 9:30 PM AT, was reported by CBC News yesterday.

During the landing, the plane skidded along the pavement, triggering panic among passengers.

Nikki Valentine, a passenger onboard, recounted the harrowing experience, describing how the aircraft tilted approximately 20 degrees to the left, accompanied by a loud crash-like noise.

“The plane started to sit at about a 20-degree angle to the left and, as that happened, we heard a pretty loud—what almost sounded like a crash sound—as the wing of the plane started to skid along the pavement, along with what I presume was the engine,” Valentine told CBC News.

Viral footage from the incident captured the aircraft’s wings scraping the runway, causing a fire during the landing. Fortunately, no casualties were reported among passengers or crew.

The emergency landing at Halifax Airport ignited discussions on social media, with users drawing comparisons to a deadly incident in South Korea.

A flight from Thailand to Muan International Airport crashed after veering off the runway and bursting into flames, resulting in 120 fatalities.

“Unbelievable. Thankfully it landed with everyone surviving it appears,” one user remarked about the Halifax incident.

Another expressed concerns over the frequency of aviation mishaps, writing, “Two catastrophic landing gear failures in a matter of hours? What’s happening in aviation right now? Mechanical issues or something more sinister? Questions need answers—fast.”

Adding to the series of recent aviation accidents, an Embraer 190 aircraft operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan, claiming 38 lives while 29 survived.

Deccan Chronicles reported that the flight from St. John’s, Newfoundland, skidded along the runway at Halifax Airport in Goffs, Nova Scotia.

The airport was temporarily closed on Saturday night, though one runway was reopened shortly after.

According to a passenger interviewed by CBC News, one of the aircraft’s tyres failed to deploy properly during the landing, causing the plane to tilt and skid for a significant distance.

“The plane shook quite a bit and we started seeing fire on the left side of the plane and smoke started coming in the windows,” she described.

Emergency crews responded swiftly, ensuring the safety of all onboard.