Breaking news: At least 28 people have died in a plane crash near a fence at Muan International Airport in South Korea.
Breaking news: At least 28 people have died in a plane crash near a fence at Muan International Airport in South Korea.
Cause: A malfunctioning landing gear caused the plane to fall off the runway, hit a fence and burst into flames. The crashed Jeju Air plane, a South Korean airline, was flying from Bangkok, Thailand, to South Korea.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A passenger plane burst into flames Sunday after it skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport and slammed into a concrete fence when its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy, killing most of the 181 people on board, in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.
The National Fire Agency said rescuers raced to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane at the airport in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry said the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that was returning from Bangkok and that the crash happened at 9:03 a.m.
At least 176 people — 83 women, 82 men and 11 others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable — died in the fire, the fire agency said. Emergency workers pulled two people, both crew members, to safety. Health officials said they are conscious and not in life-threatening condition.
Three people remained missing about nine hours after the incident.
The fire agency deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire. About 1,560 firefighters, police officers, soldiers and other officials were also sent to the site, it said.
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