Bird was seen caught in WING of doomed South Korea flight as floor management sounded determined strike warning earlier than jet’s emergency touchdown and lethal fireball killed 179 on board

The doomed South Korea flight was warned of a bird strike before making an emergency landing and exploding into a fireball that killed at least 179 people. 

The Jeju Air flight was returning from Bangkok when the horror unfolded at Muan International Airport in South Korea.

Sparks could be seen coming from the 15 year old Boeing 737-800 as it came into land before the aircraft skidded off the runway and ploughed into a concrete wall. 

Horror footage showed the plane being torn apart as it erupted into a ball of flames. 

South Korea’s Transport Ministry has confirmed today that the control tower had sent a warning message that the ill-fated aircraft had suffered a bird strike before the deadly disaster. 

Unverified video footage reportedly of the aircraft shows a burst of fire coming out of the jet’s right engine supposedly showing the moment the bird struck the plane.  

It is believed to have caused the jet’s landing gear to malfunction. Two crew members, a man and a woman, were miraculously pulled alive from the tail section of the burning plane.

News1 Agency reported a passenger sent a text message to a relative saying a bird was stuck in the wing.

Their heartbreaking final message read: ‘Should I say my last words?’

Eyewitness Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was staying at a rental house near the airport, told Yonhap news agency he saw a spark on the plane’s right wing before the crash.

‘I was telling my family there was a problem with the plane when I heard a loud explosion,’ Yoo said. 

Another witness, named only as Cho, was taking a walk near the airport when he saw a flash of light as the plane descended.

‘Then there was a loud bang followed by smoke in the air, and then I heard a series of explosions,’ he said.

There were wails in the airport’s arrivals hall as families wept loudly when a medic announced the names of 22 dead passengers. They were identified by their fingerprints. 

The still-rising death toll includes at least 82 men and 83 women, according to the National Fire Agency. 

The toll is expected to continue rising as the rest of the people aboard the plane remain missing about six hours following the horrific crash that is one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation history.

Family members hugged and cried at the airport as Red Cross volunteers handed out blankets to bereaved relatives. 

One stood at a microphone to ask for more information from authorities. ‘My older brother died and I don’t know what’s going on,’ he said. ‘I don’t know.’

Mortuary vehicles lined up outside to take bodies away, and authorities said a temporary morgue had been established. 

The bodies of 11 other passengers aboard the deadly flight were so brutally injured that their gender was not immediately clear, officials said. 

The passengers on board the flight included 173 South Koreans and two Thais, Yonhap reported. 

Two survivors were miraculously pulled from the wreckage but all of the remaining 179 passengers are presumed dead. They were both crew members and are conscious, the fire agency said.

Thirty-two fire trucks and several helicopters were deployed to contain the fire. About 1,560 firefighters, police officers, soldiers and other officials were also sent to the site. 

Lee Hyeon-ji, a response team officer at the local fire department, said the death toll would likely continue to rise ‘due to the critically injured’. 

The Juju Air website this morning was changed to a black background with a message that read: ‘We deeply apologize to all those affected by the incident at Muan Airport. 

‘We will make every effort to resolve the situation. We sincerely regret the distress caused.’

In a post on social platform X, Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed deep condolences to the families of those affected by the accident. 

She said she had ordered the foreign affairs ministry to provide assistance immediately. 

Kerati Kijmanawat, director of the Airports of Thailand, confirmed in a statement that Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 had taken off from Suvarnabhumi Airport with no reports of abnormal conditions with the aircraft or on the runway.

Jeju Air issued a statement expressing its ‘deep apology’ over the crash and said it will do its ‘utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident’.

In a televised news conference, the airline’s chief executive, Kim E-bae, gave a deep bow with other senior company officials as he apologised to bereaved families and said he feels ‘full responsibility’ for the incident.

He said the company had not identified any mechanical problems with the aircraft following regular checks and that he would wait for the results of government investigations into the cause of the incident.

Haunting snaps taken from the scene shows a huge plume of smoke as scores firefighters with 32 trucks were tackling the blaze. 

The horror crash is believed to have been caused by ‘contact with birds, resulting in malfunctioning landing gear’ as the plane attempted to land at the airport in the country’s southwest.

The flight had reportedly attempted one landing before being forced to turn around and tried to land again when the landing gear failed to lower normally.

Footage has emerged of the moment the plane attempts to land – and appears to have an issue with its landing gear. 

The aircraft appears to slide along the runway, but it fails to slow down.

It then slams into the concrete wall at the end of the runway and erupts into a ball of flames. 

Frantic emergency services then rush to the scene.

According to Flightradar data, the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 departed from Bangkok at 2.29am local time and was due to arrive at 8.30 but landed at 8.59am.

Boeing has said it is in contact with Jeju Air about the disaster.

In a statement the plane-maker said: ‘We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them.

‘We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew.’

A photo showed the tail section of the jet engulfed in flames on what appeared to be the side of the runway, with firefighters and emergency vehicles nearby. 

Firefighters have since extinguished the fire and search and rescue operations have been deployed on site.

An on-site investigation has now been launched to determine the exact cause of the crash. 

Acting President Choi Sang-mok called for the mobilisation of all resources to save the passengers.

‘All related agencies… must mobilise all available resources to save the personnel,’ he instructed officials in a statement.

It is 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 2013, an Asiana Airlines plane crash-landed in San Francisco, killing three and injuring approximately 200.

Sunday’s accident was also one of the worst landing mishaps since a July 2007 crash that killed all 187 people on board and 12 others on the ground when an Airbus A320 slid off a slick airstrip in Sao Paulo and collided with a nearby building, according to data compiled by the Flight Safety Foundation, a non-profit group aimed at improving air safety.

In 2010, 158 people died when an Air India Express aircraft overshot a runway in Mangalore, India, and plummeted into a gorge before erupting into flames, according to the safety foundation.

Read more on our live blog, here: South Korea plane crash latest: Dozens dead after aircraft’s ‘landing gear fails’ with 181 onboard