A 33-year-old flight attendant, one of the two survivors Jeju Air plane crash South Korea, which killed 179 people, is awake and talking to doctors, according to a hospital official.
The survivor, identified only by the last name Lee, told medics they had “already rescued him” when he regained consciousness. Sunday fire accident At Muan International Airport, Ju Woong, director of Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, said at a press conference on Monday.
Lee and another flight attendant on Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, identified only by the last name Koo, were the only ones on board in what authorities said was South Korea’s worst crash in decades and one of the worst in the airline’s history.
Firefighters and rescue workers work near the wreckage of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 after the plane crashed and burst into flames at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province on December 29, 2024.
Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images
25-year-old Koo Lee is in a stable condition at another hospital where he is being treated. Kook suffered injuries to his ankle and head, hospital medical staff told Yonhap News Agency. Doctors treating him declined to answer further questions about his condition.
Ju said Lee is being treated in the intensive care unit for multiple fractures.
He said Lee is “fully able to communicate.”
“There are no signs of memory loss or anything like that yet,” Ju said.
The wreckage of the Jeju Air plane that skidded off the runway and crashed is seen at Muan International Airport, South Korea, on December 30, 2024.
Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
The director of the hospital said that Lee is in special care because of the possibility of complete paralysis.
Ju said he did not ask Lee about the details of the accident, and said he did not think it would be helpful to the patient’s recovery.
Lee was initially taken to Mokpo Hospital before being transferred to Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital.
The crash happened just before 9 a.m. Sunday at Muan International Airport after the air traffic control tower cleared the flight crew to land on a south-north runway, according to an official timeline from Korea’s Ministry of Land Infrastructure. and Transportation.
Workers work at the site of a plane that crashed after skidding off the runway at Muan International Airport, South Korea, on December 30, 2024.
Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
Three minutes later, the flight control tower warned of a bird strike, the Transport Ministry said. About two minutes after that warning, a pilot sent a distress signal saying, “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, bird strike, bird strike, around going,” the ministry said.
The plane took off and made a 180-degree turn before descending from the north, crash-landing and hitting a wall at 9:03 a.m., the ministry said.
The plane, a Boeing 737-800, landed on the runway, crashed into a wall and burst into flames, officials said. A total of 181 people were on board.
The flight originated just before dawn on Sunday at Thailand’s Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, according to flight tracker Flightradar24.
The official cause of the crash is being investigated by South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board.
