South Korean Plane’s Final Moments Captured on Video Before Hitting Concrete Barrier, Triggering Explosion

Facts are emerging about the last moments of the tragic South Korean plane that crashed on Sunday killing 179 of the 181 persons on board. The two survivors, a man and a woman, were both crew members.

The heart-rending tragedy came days after the ill-fated Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed at Kazakhstan after being downed by Russia’s air defence system which Moscow claimed mistook the plane for a Ukrainian drone. Thirty-eight of the sixty-seven people on board perished.

According to report by FOX News, the moment the Jeju Air Flight skidded off a runway before crashing into a concrete barrier and bursting into flames at an airport in South Korea was caught on camera.

Footage aired by South Korean television channels showed the plane skidding — and apparently without its landing gear deployed. The jet overran the runway and hit a barrier, triggering a fiery explosion. Footage showed thick plumes of smoke billowing from the plane, which was engulfed in flames.

The plane involved was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 passenger jet. It was arriving from Bangkok when the crash happened at 9:03 a.m. local time near the town of Muan, which is about 180 miles south of Seoul.

Kyle Bailey, former a FAA safety team representative in the U.S., told Fox News that it appeared to him that the aircraft was traveling too fast as it skidded on the runway before striking what he believed was a structure that housed instrument landing equipment.

“I think that’s pretty much what spelled disaster for that airplane,” he said.

Flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the plane’s black box have been retrieved by workers. They will be examined by government experts investigating the cause of the crash and fire, Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan said.

While it will likely take months to determine the cause of the crash, Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, said workers were looking into various possibilities, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds.

“Jill and I are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life that occurred as a result of the Jeju Airlines accident in Muan, Republic of Korea,” US President Joe Biden said. “As close allies, the American people share deep bonds of friendship with the South Korean people and our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by this tragedy. The United States stands ready to provide any necessary assistance.”

Transport Ministry officials said the airport control tower had issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it intended to land and had given its pilot permission to land in a different area.

The plane was destroyed with the tail assembly being the only recognizable part among the wreckage, the fire chief told a televised briefing.

President Biden issued a statement about the crash on Sunday, offering assistance from the U.S., if necessary.