Only two crew members of the 181 people on board a Jeju Air flight survived when the passenger jet crash-landed at an airport in Muan County, southwest South Korea on Sunday, the fire authorities confirmed later on the day, Reuters reports.
The bodies of 179 victims had been retrieved from the scene as of 20:38 local time Sunday, and the identities of 88 victims had been confirmed as of 22:00 local time Sunday, the fire authorities said.
The accident marks the worst air disaster in the country in decades after 66 people were killed in a plane crash in 1993.
It was reported at about 09:03 local time Sunday that the airplane with 175 passengers, including 173 South Koreans and two Thais, together with six flight attendants on board, crashed while attempting to land at the Muan International Airport, some 290 km southwest of the capital Seoul.
The Jeju Air flight 7C2216 from Bangkok, Thailand landed without wheels, skidding off the runway and hitting the outer wall of the runway, with its fuselage broken in half and catching fire.
The two crew members who survived the tragedy were rescued at the rear of the ill-fated aircraft, with most parts of the plane severely damaged.
The fire authorities believed that a bird strike that led to landing gear failure may have caused the accident.
After making the first landing attempt, the aircraft went around into the air due to the estimated malfunctioning of landing gear and made the second landing attempt with a belly landing that resulted in the disaster.
South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport said on Sunday that the retrieval of both flight data and voice recorders was completed to look into the air disaster.
The ministry added that it may take at least months to years to figure out the exact cause of the accident.
In a statement on Sunday, the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States said that in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, it is sending a team of investigators to South Korea to assist with the investigation into the plane accident.
South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok on Sunday announced a week-long mourning period following the deadly airliner crash.
Choi said at a central disaster countermeasures meeting that the government will set seven days until midnight on Jan. 4 next year as the national mourning period while setting up joint memorial altars in 17 cities and provinces to express condolences for the victims.
He said civil servants in all ministries, local governments and public institutions will wear mourning ribbons during the period, vowing to thoroughly investigate the exact cause of the accident and take actions to prevent recurrence of such a tragic accident.
Choi expressed deep condolences to the deceased and their bereaved families, declaring Muan County as a special disaster area to provide necessary support for the bereaved families and the injured.
A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on Sunday that the Secretary-General is "deeply saddened" by the news of the plane crash.
"He extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and also wishes a swift and full recovery to those injured in this tragic event," said the spokesperson.
