Families grieve after plane crash in South Korea

The holiday trip to Thailand was supposed to be a celebration for Maeng Gi Soo’s nephew and his nephew’s two sons, who were celebrating the end of their college entrance exams.

Instead, it all ended in tragedy when all three died aboard a Jeju Air plane that crash-landed in South Korea on Sunday morning, killing 179 of the 181 people on board.

“I can’t believe the whole family just disappeared,” Maeng, 78, told the BBC.

“My heart hurts so bad.”

The family were among those on flight 7C2216 from Bangkok to Mueang International Airport, which skidded off the runway after touching down and crashed into the wall shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Sunday.

All passengers on board the Boeing 737-800 were killed, making it the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil.

Four crew members died, two were rescued from the wreckage alive.

The 179 passengers were aged between three and 78, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. Two Thai nationals were among the dead, and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, authorities said.

Five of the dead were children under the age of 10, and the youngest passenger, a little boy, was only three years old.

According to the Yonhap news agency, one man in his sixties said five members of his family spanning three generations were on the plane, including his daughter-in-law, his daughter, her husband and their young children.

Many of the passengers were celebrating the Christmas holidays in Thailand and were returning home.

A cousin of one of the victims, Jongluk Dungmani, told BBC Thai she was “shocked” when she heard the news.

“I got goosebumps. I couldn’t believe it,” Pornfichaya Chalermsin said.

Jongluck spent more than two weeks in Thailand visiting her family and traveling around the northern city of Chiang Mai with her husband.

Father Jeong Jae-young, 71, told Reuters news agency that his daughter Mi-suk, who was identified by her fingerprints, was on her way home from a trip with friends to Bangkok for a celebration.

“My daughter, who is only in her 40s, ended up like this,” he said, adding that the last time he saw her was on December 21, when she brought food and a calendar for the next year to his house – which would be their last moment together.

Mi-Suk is survived by her husband and teenage daughter.

“It’s unbelievable,” Jeong said.

One woman said her sister, who was going through hard times, went to Thailand when life started to improve.

“She had so many difficulties and she was traveling because her situation had just started to improve,” she told Yonhap news agency.

The two flight attendants who survived the crash were found in the tail section of the plane, the most intact part of the wreckage.

One of them was a 33-year-old man surnamed Lee, who was rushed to a hospital in Mokpo, about 25 km (15.5 miles) south of the airport, but was later transferred to Seoul Iwha Women’s University Hospital in the capital Yonhap. reports the news agency.

“When I woke up, I was already rescued,” he told doctors at the hospital, according to its director Joo Woon, who spoke during a press briefing.

The survivor, who suffered multiple fractures, is receiving special care because of the risk of sequelae, including complete paralysis, Zhu said.

Another survivor, a 25-year-old flight attendant surnamed Koo, is being treated at the Asan Medical Center in eastern Seoul, Yonhap added.

She suffered head and ankle injuries, but is reported to be in stable condition.

It is not yet known exactly what caused the crash, but a number of eyewitnesses claim to have seen the plane crash before it crashed.

The restaurant’s owner, Im Young-Hak, said he initially thought it was an oil tanker accident.

“I went outside and saw thick, dark smoke. After that I heard a loud explosion, but not from the crash itself. Then there were more explosions – at least seven,” he told Reuters.

“We feel bad when accidents happen on the other side of the world, but it happened right here. It’s traumatic.”

Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was near the airport, told local media that he saw a spark on the right wing shortly before the crash.

Kim Yong-chol, 70, said the plane initially failed to land and circled back to try again.

He added that he witnessed “black smoke rising into the sky” after hearing a “loud explosion,” Yonhap news agency reported.

One firefighter who was dispatched to the scene told Reuters he had never seen anything “of this scale”.

BBC reporters on the ground said the sounds of family members crying echoed through the terminal on Sunday night, while others were angry at the length of time it was taking to identify the bodies.

Hundreds remain at Muang International Airport waiting for loved ones to be identified.

Some have given saliva DNA samples to officials to help identify the victims’ bodies, and the government has offered funeral services and temporary housing to the families of the dead.

National mourning has also been announced for the next seven days.

But for all the loved ones of those who died, many questions still remain – not least the cause of the disaster and whether it could have been prevented.

“The water near the airport is shallow,” John told Reuters.

“(There are) softer fields than this cement runway. Why couldn’t the pilot land there?”

His daughter Mi-suk was almost home, so he saw no reason to call and leave the last message, he says.

“She was almost home – she thought she was coming home.”

Additional reporting by BBC Thai’s Thanyaporn Buathong