Experts have revealed how two cabin crew from the doomed Jeju Air plane crash on Sunday may have survived.
The Jeju Air plane skidded off the runway in the town of Muan, 180 miles south of Seoul, slammed into a concrete barrier and burst into flames on Sunday after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy.
All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 were killed in one of South Korea‘s worst aviation disasters, officials said.
Both survivors were members of the cabin crew who were sat at the back of the plane when it crashed, which rescue and investigative experts said explains why they survived, as the tail was the only part of the plane that wasn’t entirely destroyed.
Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun, who was in charge of putting out the inferno, said: ‘Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of [the plane] looks almost impossible to recognise.’
An official in charge of search and rescue operations at Muan International Airport told the New York Times that the crash was so bad that only the tail, where both surviving flight attendants were, was immediately recognisable.
The official, Lee Jeong-hyeon, told the newspaper: ‘We could not recognise the rest of the fuselage.’
Cabin crew are often seats at the very front or very back of the plane. On Boeing 737-800s, fold-down seats for the crew are placed adjacent to the rear doors, where the two survivors were extracted from.
Both survivors were members of the cabin crew who were sat at the back of the plane when it crashed, which rescue and investigative experts said explains why they survived
Police forensics personnel and National Bureau of Investigation officials work at the scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in Muan
A victim rescued from a plane crash is transported to a hospital in Mokpo, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024
The Jeju Air plane in flames at the Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024
Cabin crew are also given significant training and access to safety equipment, including harnesses and restraints, which can offer protection during a crash.
It is not known, however, whether the surviving crew used any equipment as the investigation is still ongoing.
Experts previously revealed that the safest place to sit on a plane is either in the middle or the back.
Most casualties and deaths during aeroplane crashes occur from the front. On top of this, emergency services and rescue teams often enter the plane from the rear.
According to a 2015 analysis by Time magazine of 35 years of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data, seats in the back of the plane were safer. In the back third of the aircraft, they had a fatality rate of 32%, whereas those in the middle third had a fatality rate of 39%.
The ones in the front third had an increase of fatality rate, coming in at 38%. Even more specifically, the middle seats in the back of the aircraft are statistically the safest, with just a 28% fatality rate.
The BBC reported that the two survivors were extracted at 9:23am and 9:50am, after the plane hit the runway without landing hear at 9:02am and crashed into the concrete barrier at 9:03am.
One survivor, a 33-year-old male flight attendant named as Lee Mo reportedly said when he woke up in Ewha Women’s University Hospital in Seoul that he had been wearing his seatbelt before the crash, but that he had no recollection of anything after that.
According to his doctors, he asked ‘what happened’ and ‘why am I here’ upon waking up.
A fellow survivor, a 25-year-old female flight attendant who has only been identified by her last name, Koo, is being treated at Asan Medical Center in eastern Seoul.
She reportedly said in her initial statements: ‘Smoke came out of one of the plane’s engines and then it exploded.’
Investigators stand at the scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in Muan
Sunday’s crash was the worst for any South Korean airline in decades
The wrecked tail section of the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft that crashed and burst into flames is seen at the end of the runway at Muan International Airport in Muan on December 30, 2024
Recovery teams work at the scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in Muan on December 30, 2024
Police forensics personnel and National Bureau of Investigation officials work at the scene of the crash
Medical and rescue teams said she does not remember any more details of the crash.
Lee, who according to local media was in charge of passenger service at the back of the plane, suffered a fractured left shoulder and injuries to his head.
He was initially taken to a hospital in Mokpo, around 190 miles south of Seoul, before being transferred to the capital city.
A hospital official told local media: ‘Koo is currently being treated for scalp lacerations and ankle fractures, and is undergoing treatment for abdominal diagnosis.
‘There is no major threat to her life or anything, but we did not have time to ask about the accident.’
Lee, meanwhile, may be at risk of suffering from full-body paralysis as an aftereffect of the deadly crash, according to hospital officials.
Director Joo Woong of Seoul National University Hospital told reporters: ‘There is a possibility of aftereffects such as full-body paralysis, so we are conducting intensive observation and pain relief treatment in parallel.’
Sunday’s crash was the worst for any South Korean airline since a 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that killed more than 200 people, transportation ministry data showed.
So far, 141 out of 179 victims have been identified, leaving many devastated family members demanding answers from authorities.
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said at a press briefing at Muan International airport that all 179 bodies have been moved to a temporary morgue.
A satellite image shows the area at South Korea’s Muan International Airport after the Jeju Air aircraft went off the runway and crashed, in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024
A relative of passenger at Muan International Airport on December 30
People stand as the wreckage of an aircraft lying on the ground after it went off the runway and crashed at Muan International Airport is pictured, in Muan, South Korea, December 30
Jeju Air flight 7C2216 is engulfed in flames as it slams into a wall following a crash after landing at Muan International Airport
Relatives of passengers of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft react near a make-shift shelter at Muan International Airport in Muan on December 30, 2024
Muan International Airport on December 30, 2024 in Muan-gun, South Korea
A child looks on as mourners visit a memorial altar for the victims of the Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport on December 30
‘Once we are ready to transfer the bodies following autopsies by investigation agencies, we will contact the families,’ an official said.
Belongings of the victims are currently being picked up from the runway, as part of the investigations into the causes of the crash.
Jeon Je-young, whose daughter Mi-sook was one of 179 who died on board Jeju Airlines flight 2216, says he still cannot believe what happened.
‘When I saw the accident video, the plane seemed out of control,’ the 71-year-old father said. ‘The pilots probably had no choice but to do it. My daughter, who is only in her mid-40s, ended up like this. This is unbelievable.’
Video of the plane’s approach show it hitting a bird, before it circled the runway and attempted to land with its flaps up. Experts believe this suggests the aircraft suffered hydraulic failure, which could have also prevented the landing gear from deploying.
Leading air safety expert David Learmount told Sky News that having a concrete wall at the end of the runway was ‘verging on criminal’ and said the collision with the wall was the ‘defining moment’ of the disaster.
He suggested that had the wall not been there, the plane would have instead hit a fence, slid over a road and likely stopped in a nearby field.
‘I think everybody would have been alive… the pilots might have suffered some damage going through the security fence or something like that. But I even suspect they might have survived,’ Mr Learmount said.
Leading air safety expert David Learmount told Sky News that having a concrete wall (pictured in satellite image) at the end of the runway was ‘verging on criminal’ and said the collision with the wall was the ‘defining moment’ of the disaster
Mourners react near the scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport
Soldiers have carefully combed through a field of reeds next to the runway
Rescue workers work near the wreckage of the Jeju Air aircraft that went off the runway and crashed at Muan International Airport
Airline pilots also chimed in, saying that the jet likely lost power on at least one engine and suffered a hydraulic failure after the plane was hit by a bird.
After abandoning a first landing attempt due to a loss of power, the pilots touched down on the runway at high speed on their second attempt – without extending the flaps and deploying speed brakes that would normally slow the plane down.
The thrust reverser, used to slow down the aircraft once on the ground, was only deployed on one engine.
While the flaps and landing ear are powered by the hydraulic system, they can be extended manually in an emergency.
Captain Denys Davydov, who flies a Boeing 737-800 for Ukraine International Airlines, told the Times: ‘It seems they had hydraulics to deploy the one reverser but no flaps or landing gear… As a pilot of the same plane, it’s very strange.’
Some experts said that a bird strike alone would not have crippled the landing gear.
Australian airline safety expert Geoffrey Dell said: ‘I’ve never seen a bird strike prevent the landing gear from being extended.’
Airline News editor Geoffrey Thomas said that bird strikes ‘typically don’t cause the loss of an airplane by themselves’ and questioned why firefighters didn’t attend to the aircraft as it was landing on the runway.
Makeshift shelters are seen at Muan International Airport on December 30, 2024 in Muan-gun, South Korea
Family members of the victims of the Jeju Air crash react as officials hold a briefing at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024
A man bows as he visits a memorial altar for the victims of the Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport, at Muan Sports Park in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024
A recovery team member works with his dog at the scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in Muan on December 30, 2024
He said: ‘Why weren’t they in attendance when the plane touched down?
‘And why did the aircraft touch down so far down the runway? And why was there a brick wall at the end of the runway?’
But Joo Jong-wan dismissed concerns about having the concrete wall after the end of the runway, saying that both ends of the runway have ‘safety zones with green buffer areas before reaching the outer wall’, the Independent reports.
He added that the airport was designed ‘according to standard aviation safety guidelines, even if the wall may appear closer than it actually is’.
