As the investigation into the exact cause of the Jeju Air plane crash continues, authorities announced that all 179 dead have been identified as of Wednesday morning in South Korea.
People pay their respects to the victims of the Jeju Air plane crash during a countdown ceremony to mark the New Year 2025 at Bosingak Pavilion in central Seoul before midnight on December 31, 2024.
Jung Yeon-je/AFP via Getty Images
The families of the victims, for the first time, will be brought to the site to pay tribute.
In addition to South Korea’s transportation department and other local authorities, the US sent a team to assist in the investigation, which includes consultants from the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and CFM International, the jet engine maker.
It also includes three representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Some will be posted locally while others consult remotely.
“Additional NTSB investigative personnel are available to assist as needed, including specialists in recorders, power plants and survival factors, among other specialties,” the NTSB said in a statement.
Police forensics personnel and National Bureau of Investigation officials investigate a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 that crashed and burst into flames in Muan, South Korea, on December 31, 2024.
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A Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 was involved in the accident. Authorities are conducting a full investigation into 101 aircraft of the same model. Those planes are currently operating at six local airlines, officials said.
Jeju Air Flight 2216 was landing just before 9 a.m. when the plane made the emergency call, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport. He then left the track and hit a wall.
“Before landing, the control tower warned of a bird attack, and the pilot immediately sent a distress signal,” the ministry said in a statement this week.
A total of 175 passengers and six crew members were on board the Boeing 737 that took off from Bangkok, Thailand.
Two people survived the accident, both crew members, a man and a woman. Both are recovering as of Monday at separate hospitals in Seoul with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
