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International investigators were due to meet in South Korea on Tuesday to look into the cause the deadliest plane crash in the country’s history which has left authorities scrambling to identify victims and experts examining elements of the airport’s runway design.
The National Police Agency says it is adding staff and high-speed DNA analyzers to speed up the identification of the five bodies that remained unidentified as of Tuesday.
Family members gathered at the country’s Muan International Airport, where the crash happened on Sunday, demanded faster identification and more information from authorities.
All 175 passengers and four of the six crew members were killed when Jeju Air’s Boeing 737-800 landed on its belly and skidded off the end of the runway, erupting in a fireball when it crashed into a wall. Two crew members were pulled out alive.
Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok has ordered an urgent safety inspection of all Boeing 737-800 planes operated by the country’s airlines, after a Jeju Air crash killed almost all passengers.
Acting President of South Korea Choi Sang-mok on Monday ordered an extraordinary security inspection of all air traffic in the country as investigators tried to find out what caused the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil.
The state Department of Transportation said the black box recorder found at the crash site was missing key parts and that authorities were considering how to retrieve its data.
Inspections of all 101 B737-800 aircraft used by South Korean airlines were to be completed by January 3, while the airport will remain closed until January 7, the ministry said.
Representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Administration and plane manufacturer Boeing have joined the investigative body and plan to meet in Muan on Tuesday.
The NTSB said in a statement that it had sent three investigators to South Korea to assist in the investigation, including people with expertise in operational factors and airworthiness.
“If we need more experts, we will send them in,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in an interview.
Questions about the embankment, bird strikes
Investigators are looking into bird strikes, whether any of the plane’s control systems were disabled and the pilots’ apparent rush to try to land soon after the danger was declared as possible factors in the crash, fire and transportation officials said.
Officials also faced sharp questions about design features at the airport, particularly a large dirt and concrete embankment near the end of the runway used to support navigation equipment.
The plane crashed into an embankment at high speed and erupted into a fireball. Bodies and parts of bodies were thrown into the surrounding fields, and most of the aircraft disintegrated in flames.
South Korean officials say the causeway was built to standards and that similar elements exist at other airports, including in the United States and Europe.
But many experts said its proximity to the end of the runway defied best practice and likely made the crash far more deadly than it otherwise would have been.
John Cox, CEO of aviation consultancy Safety Operating Systems and a former 737 pilot, said the runway design was “absolutely” inconsistent with best industry practice, which rules out any hard structure such as a berm within at least 300 meters of the end of the runway.
The airport’s concrete harvest appears to be less than half that distance from the end of the roadway, according to a Reuters analysis of satellite images.
South Korean officials said the embankment is about 250 meters from the end of the runway itself, although a paved platform extends beyond that.
In videos of the crash, the plane appeared to be slowing down and in control as it went off the runway, Cox said.
“When it hits that dam it turns into a tragedy.”
