SEOUL: At least 28 people were killed when an airliner careened off the runway and slammed into a wall at South Korea’s Muan International Airport on Sunday, Yonhap news agency reported.
“But the tally could rise due to the critically injured,” said Lee Hyeon-ji, a response team officer at the local fire department.
She added that rescue authorities were evacuating passengers from the rear section of the jet.
The accident occurred as the Jeju Air plane, carrying 175 passengers and six crew on a flight from the Thai capital Bangkok, was landing at the airport in the south of the country, the report said.
Two people were found alive and rescue operations were still under way, a Muan fire official said. The official could not confirm the reports of 28 dead.
Authorities were working to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official said.
Video shared by local media showed the twin-engine aircraft skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok, who was named interim leader of the country on Friday after the previous acting president was impeached amid an ongoing political crisis, ordered all-out rescue efforts, his office said.
“All related agencies… must mobilise all available resources to save the personnel,” he instructed officials in a statement.
A Jeju Air spokesperson said the airline was checking the reports.
This is a developing story and is being updated with further details.
