South Korea orders probe into air safety after country’s deadliest plane crash kills 179 By Reuters

By Ju-min Park and Hongji Kim

MUAN COUNTY, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, on Monday ordered an emergency safety check on the country’s entire aviation system as investigators scrambled to identify the victims and find out what caused the country’s worst aviation disaster.

All 175 passengers and four of the six crew members were killed when the Jeju Air Boeing (NYSE: ) 737-800 went belly-up and skidded off the end of the runway at Muan International Airport, bursting into flames when it hit a wall. Two crew members were pulled out alive.

The priority right now is to identify the victims, feed their families and treat the two survivors, Choi told a disaster management conference in Seoul.

“Even before the final results are out, we ask that the officials come forward with the investigation of the accidents and inform the families of the deceased immediately,” he said.

“As soon as the accident recovers, the Department of Transportation is requested to conduct an urgent safety investigation of the entire flight plan in order to prevent the recurrence of aviation accidents,” he said.

The Ministry of Transport said authorities were considering whether to inspect all 101 Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by South Korean Airlines.

Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 175 passengers and six crew members, was attempting to land shortly after 9am (0000 GMT) on Sunday at the airport in the country’s south.

Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather as possible factors in the crash, fire officials said. Experts say many questions remain, including why the plane, which has two CFM 56-7B26 engines, was seen traveling at such a high speed and why its landing gear did not appear to have descended as it skidded down the runway and into the wall.

CFM International is a joint venture between GE Aerospace and France Safran (EPA:).

On Monday, Department of Transportation officials said that as the pilots were making a planned approach, they told air traffic control that the plane had crashed, shortly after the control tower alerted them that birds had been spotted in the area.

The pilots then declared a Mayday and signaled their intention to go around just before the plane went down the runway, landed on its belly and crashed into a building at the end of the runway.

Officials are investigating the role played at the end of the runway at the time of the accident, including the fence that was standing on it, officials from the Department of Transportation told a press conference.

The accident killed most of the local residents who were returning from a holiday in Thailand, and two Thais also died.

On Monday morning, investigators were trying to identify some of the remaining victims, as distraught families waited at Muan Airport.

Park Han-shin, whose brother died in the accident, said he was told by the authorities that his brother has been identified but has not yet seen his body.

Park urged the families of other victims to unite in disaster response and recovery efforts, citing the 2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people. Long-term efforts to find the victims and the cause of the sinking followed the disaster.

Emergency workers were sifting through nearly destroyed debris when the plane was engulfed in flames and debris at a regional airport near the country’s rugged west coast.

Department of Transportation officials said the plane’s flight data recorder had been recovered but appeared to have external damage and it was unclear whether the data was complete enough to be analyzed.

Muan Airport remained closed until Wednesday but all other international and regional airports including the main Incheon International Airport were operating as planned.

Shares of Jeju Air hit a record low on Monday, trading 15.7% lower.

Under international aviation regulations, South Korea will lead a public investigation into the crash and automatically involve the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States, where the plane was designed and built.

The NTSB said it is leading a team of American investigators to assist South Korean aviation authorities. Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration were also involved.

Choi, who was in charge of recovery efforts and investigations, became acting leader three days ago after the country’s president and prime minister were charged with imposing temporary martial law.