179 people killed in plane crash at South Korean airport
A passenger plane skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport on Sunday, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people on board died in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.
The country’s National Fire Agency (NFA) said rescuers raced to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane at the airport in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometres south of the capital, Seoul.
Emergency officials later confirmed there were only two survivors. Workers pulled two crew members to safety. Health officials said they are conscious and not in life-threatening condition.
Family members cried as officials announced the names of some victims at a lounge in the Muan airport.
Footage of the crash aired by YTN television showed the plane skidding across the airstrip, apparently with its landing gear still closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the facility.
Local TV stations aired footage showing the aircraft engulfed in flames, with thick pillows of black smoke billowing from it. The NFA deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the blaze. About 1,560 firefighters, police officers, soldiers and other officials were also sent to the site, the agency said.
Emergency officials in Muan said they were examining the cause of the fire, initially saying the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned.
Possible bird strike
John Cox, president of aviation consulting firm Safety Operating Systems LLC, based in Washington, D.C., said the footage indicates the plane may have taken a bird strike to one or both engines, but investigators will know more once they study the aircraft’s black boxes and scour the engines for bird debris.
U.K. aviation expert Philip Butterworth-Hayes told Agence France-Presse that a strike to both engines would cause the aircraft to lose power, and pilots would have to activate the APU, or auxillary power unit, to get power back and gain more control over things like the landing gear.
“It may have been they did not have time to get the landing gear down by the auxiliary means because of having limited or no power from the engines,” Cox told CBC News.
He said the aircraft initially appeared to be under control on the runway and was slowing down, “and would have come to a stop had that wall not been there.”
Cox said under international standards, airports should have a clear area at the end of the runway so that “if an airplane does go off, it doesn’t strike something.”
“Aircraft engines are built to withstand a lot, including a bird strike,” Butterworth-Hayes told AFP. “But if the birds are particularly large, they’re in flocks and there’s several of them, even a modern jet engine has problems going through it.”
Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, told a televised briefing that the plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognizable among the wreckage. Lee said that workers were looking into various possibilities about what caused the crash, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds.
Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan said workers have retrieved the flight data and cockpit voice recorders in the plane’s black box, which will be examined by government experts investigating the cause of the crash and fire. Joo said the runway at the Muan airport will be closed until Jan. 1.
The ministry said the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that was returning from Bangkok when the crash occurred at 9:03 a.m. local time, and its passengers included two Thai nationals.
Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the families of those affected by the accident through a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. Paetongtarn said she had ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide immediate assistance.
Low-cost airline
In a televised news conference, Kim E-bae, Jeju Air’s president, deeply bowed with other senior company officials as he apologized to bereaved families and said he feels “full responsibility” for the incident.
It was the first fatal flight for Jeju Air, a low-cost airline founded in 2005 that ranks behind only Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines in terms of the number of passengers in South Korea.
Kim said the company hadn’t identified any mechanical problems with the aircraft following regular checkups and that he would wait for the results of government investigations into the cause of the crash.
Boeing said in a statement on X it was in contact with Jeju Air and is ready to support the company in dealing with the crash. “We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew,” Boeing said.
It’s one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation history. The last time South Korea suffered a large-scale air disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board.
In an emergency meeting on Sunday evening, South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, declared a national mourning period until Jan. 4.
The crash came as South Korea is embroiled in a huge political crisis triggered by then-president Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning imposition of martial law and ensuing impeachment.
On Friday, South Korean lawmakers also impeached acting president Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, forcing president Choi to take over. He ordered officials to employ all available resources to rescue the passengers and crew, according to Yonhap news agency.
Published at Sun, 29 Dec 2024 18:26:16 +0000
Netanyahu to have prostate removed after benign enlargement diagnosis
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is having his prostate removed on Sunday, his office said, a procedure that comes as he manages multiple crises at once, including the ongoing war in Gaza and his own trial for alleged corruption.
Netanyahu, 75, is among a cohort of older world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, 82, and president-elect Donald Trump, 78, whose health and physical fitness are under deep scrutiny both at home and abroad because of their advanced age and the effect that could have on their leadership.
The Israeli prime minister, who has had a string of health issues in recent years, has gone to great lengths to bolster a public image of himself as a healthy, energetic leader. During his trial this month, he boasted about working 18-hour days.
But as Israel’s longest-serving leader, such a gruelling workload over a total of 17 years in power could also take a toll.
Due to the prostrate procedure, Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, said in a letter to the court that the Israeli prime minister would be fully sedated and would be hospitalized for “a number of days,” asking that his three days of testimony this week be cancelled. The court agreed.
With so much at stake in the turbulent region, Netanyahu’s office said that Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close ally, would serve as acting prime minister during the procedure.
According to Netanyahu’s office, the Israeli leader was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection on Wednesday stemming from a benign enlargement of his prostate. The infection was treated successfully with antibiotics, but the procedure on Sunday will remove his prostate, likely using endoscopic surgery, Dr. Shay Golan, head of the oncology urology service at Israel’s Rabin Medical Center, told Israeli Army Radio.
Netanyahu insists he is in excellent health, and his office has worked to craft a public image that backs that up — releasing footage of him touring war zones in full protective gear.
But he has had several health issues before, including a heart condition that led to a fainting spell and a pacemaker to control his heartbeat.
That news in July 2023 came at a time when Netanyahu was dealing with massive anti-government protests over a plan to overhaul the judicial system. Also last year, he was rushed to hospital for what doctors said was likely dehydration, where he stayed overnight, prompting his weekly cabinet meeting to be delayed.
Earlier this year, Netanyahu underwent hernia surgery, during which he was under full anesthesia and unconscious. At that time, Levin, his justice minister, served as acting prime minister during the operation.
Netanyahu will be in hospital at a time when international mediators are pushing Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire in Gaza as violence there rages on and fighting between Israel and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels intensifies.
Published at Sun, 29 Dec 2024 15:35:53 +0000
