Victims of one of South Korea‘s worst ever plane crashes have been named and pictured for the first time – including a three-year-old boy who was the youngest to perish in the disaster as he returned home from a holiday with his parents.
A Jeju Air plane skidded off the runway at Muan airport, 180 miles south of Seoul, before slamming into a concrete barrier and bursting into flames on Sunday after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy.
Almost all of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 were killed, with only two members of cabin crew – a man and a woman – pulled from the wreckage alive.
Five of the people who died in the tragedy were children under the age of 10, with the youngest, a three-year-old, seen in a picture taken just days earlier as he flew to Thailand for his first foreign holiday.
The boy’s father Kang Ko, 43, and his mother Jin Lee Seon, 37, shared pictures of their trip on Instagram hours before boarding the doomed flight home to South Korea, local media reports.
One of the holiday snaps showed their little boy excitedly looking out of the plane window as they flew into Bangkok, while another heartbreaking post showed the toddler with his passport.
‘My son is going abroad for the first time on a night flight, and his first passport has no stamp!’ Mr Ko captioned the tragic post, which has since been flooded with tributes and messages of condolence for the family.
It comes after the final texts sent by a passenger on the doomed flight were revealed, which appear to support theories that the plane was struck by a bird moments before its final descent.
Kang Ko shared pictures of his family’s holiday on Instagram, including one of him excitedly looking out of the plane window as they flew to Thailand
Kang Ko, 43, and his wife Jin Lee Seon, 37, shared pictures of their first family holiday on Instagram
A picture has been shared online purportedly showing the final texts sent by a passenger on the doomed flight
Sirithon Chaue, 22, was among 179 passengers and crew killed when the Boeing 737 exploded in a fireball at the Muan International Airport
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
The unnamed passenger reportedly messaged a family member moments before the crash, saying: ‘We can’t land because a bird is stuck in the wing.’
In a chilling final message, they wrote: ‘Should I say my last words?’ Communication was then lost.
Tributes have poured in for the many victims, with South Korea in a state of mourning after whole families were wiped out in the air disaster.
Sports broadcaster Jung Woo-young shared a post on Instagram paying tribute to Mr Ko, who reportedly worked in PR for the Kia Tigers baseball team.
‘He was so good at his job that everyone on our company’s baseball broadcasting team liked him,’ the TV host wrote.
‘I was one of them, of course. We waited until the end for news of a miraculous return, but with the news of the deaths of everyone except the rescuers, even our last hope disappeared. In the end, he never returned. Not even his family.’
Korean media reports have suggested that Mr Ko had planned the trip both to celebrate Christmas and following his team’s victory in the Korean Series earlier this year.
Mr Ko regularly shared pictures of his family on Instagram, including a number of posts from their holiday to Thailand, showing the parents and their young son, named in Korean media as Go Mo, visiting a temple and enjoying a trip to the zoo.
Two Thai nationals are also among the dead, one of whom has been identified as a 22-year-old woman named as Sirithon Chaue, whose mother had been waiting for her at Muan airport.
Her relatives said today that she was fulfilling her lifelong dream of flying to Korea, where her mother lives, in the hope of finding a job there as an air hostess.
A heartbreaking post showed the toddler with his passport. Mr Ko captioned it: ‘My son is going abroad for the first time on a night flight, and his first passport has no stamp!’
Jeju Air flight 7C2216 is engulfed in flames as it slams into a wall following a crash after landing at Muan International Airport
In the village of Chiang Rai, close to the border with China, family and friends of Sirithon have been mourning since the news of her death emerged.
Her uncle Theerapat Chaue, 37, said: ‘My niece loved Korea. She was going to visit her mother, who has worked there for 10 years. She always dreamed of working there as an air hostess.
‘Her mother was waiting at the airport and at first she thought the plane malfunction was minor. But then she saw the videos of what happened on social media. She was in shock and panic.
‘The airline has offered to provide tickets for myself and my two brothers to go to South Korea for the funeral. But we may bring her ashes home.’
Many of those on board the doomed flight had been celebrating the Christmas holidays in Thailand and were returning home.
A man in his sixties told local media that five members of his family had been on the plane, including his sister-in-law, his daughter, her husband and their young children.
Jeon Je-young, whose daughter Mi-sook was one of 179 who died on board Jeju Airlines flight 2216, said he still cannot believe what happened.
Fire and smoke rise from the tail section of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft after the plane crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport
An unverified video grab reportedly of the Jeju Air plane shows a burst of fire coming out of the jet’s right engine supposedly showing the moment the bird struck
‘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.’
‘The water near the airport is not deep,’ Jeon told Reuters.
‘(There) are softer fields than this cement runway. Why couldn’t the pilot land there instead?’
He added that his daughter was almost home safe, so had seen no reason to call and leave a final message. ‘She was almost home – she thought she was coming home’.
More than 24 hours on from the tragedy, authorities said the identities of 141 of the 179 dead have been confirmed.
Only five bodies have so far been released to families, the BBC reports, as grieving families continue the agonising wait for their loved ones’ remains.
South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok pays tribute to the victims of the 29 December Jeju Air plane crash
A relative of passenger at Muan International Airport on December 30
Families reportedly asked officials why only five bodies had been released, to which a police officer is said to have replied that they were the only ones that were intact.
Soldiers and rescue workers have been scouring the site for human remains, with reports that they have been painstakingly sorting through more than 600 body parts.
‘Can you promise that they will be put back together?’ one man reportedly asked.
An official told those gathered that they will have more results on Tuesday morning.
Some of the families still waiting at the airport have camped out overnight in emergency tents set up in the departure hall.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other accident response authorities said in a statement that ‘the remains of all 179 dead people have been placed in a temporary mortuary.
‘When the investigative authorities have completed the autopsy and are ready to return the bodies, we will contact the families further.’
