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SOUTH KOREAN AUTHORITIES are examining regulations around a concrete wall at Muan airport, after a Jeju Air flight crashed into the barrier and burst into flames, killing 179 people.
When asked whether it was permissible for the airport to have used concrete – which experts have flagged as unsafe – director-general for airport policy Kim Hong-rak said the government would “review the relevant regulations and their application”.
Authorities have begun releasing the bodies of plane crash victims to families, as investigators race to determine why the Boeing 737-800 crash landed.
US investigators, including from Boeing, arrived at the crash site in southwestern Muan, officials said, as South Korean authorities began assessing two black boxes retrieved from the burned-out wreckage of the aircraft.
The plane was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea when it made a mayday call and belly-landed before crashing into the concrete barrier and bursting into flames.
Everyone aboard Jeju Air Flight 2216 was killed, save two flight attendants pulled from the wreckage.
South Korea is observing seven days of mourning, with flags flying at half-mast.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok, who has only been in office since Friday, said the accident was a “turning point” for the country, calling for a full overhaul of air safety systems.
He urged officials to “thoroughly reexamine the overall aircraft operation system… and immediately address any necessary improvements.”
“Today marks the final day of 2024,” he said, urging citizens to “reflect on the past year and prepare for the new one.”
“I am well aware that whenever challenges arose, both domestically and internationally, all citizens and public officials united with one heart and mind to overcome these crises.”
At Muan airport, investigators combed over the wrecked fuselage and soldiers picked carefully through the fields around the airport today, as people left ritual offerings for victims – including food and letters – near the airport’s perimeter.
“Captain, first officer, and crew members, thank you so much for doing your best to save the passengers. I pray for your eternal rest,” one letter left on the fence said.
Inside the airport, where victims’ relatives have been camped out since Sunday, waiting for information, anger was growing over delays in identifying passengers on the doomed plane.
But officials said they had begun releasing the first bodies to relatives, even as work to identify all victims continued.
“Of the 179 victims, the bodies of four have completed the handover procedures to their bereaved families for funerals,” transport minister Park Sang-woo said at Muan airport.
“For 28 victims, whose identities have been confirmed and autopsies completed, we will allow funeral procedures to begin from 2pm (5am Irish time) today with the consent of their families,” he added.
One family lost nine members – including the oldest passenger on the plane, who was taking his first-ever overseas trip to celebrate his birthday, local broadcaster KBC reported.
The passenger, surnamed Bae, was travelling with his wife, his two daughters, one son in law, and four grandchildren, including a five-year-old.
The entire family was killed, with only one of the daughter’s husbands – who was not able to join the trip – left behind to face the loss of his wife and three children.
“Yesterday, the village chief went to Muan Airport and said the son-in-law was in utter despair, saying, ‘I should have gone with them and died with them,’” KBC said.
Memorial altars for the victims have been set up nationwide, including in Seoul.
At Muan airport, families were overseeing the set-up of a new altar, with black-and-white funeral flowers filling the area.
A fuller account of what went wrong in the flight’s final moments is expected once authorities have analysed the black boxes.
“Regarding the black box, surface contamination cleaning has been completed at the testing and analysis center, and its condition is currently being assessed,” deputy civil aviation minister Joo Jong-wan said.
“However, the flight data recorder’s data storage unit is still under evaluation,” he said, as it was found with a missing connector.
Technical reviews are underway to determine how to extract the data.
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Any good news today ?
@Liam Collins: a found a 10er in a pair of jeans
@eoin carroll: any more details on this.did hear rumours on twitter but lot of fake news out there
@eoin carroll: is he in the game
@eoin carroll: is he on the game
@Liam Collins: There was rumours that it was a 50 and 5g changed it into a 10 but I can confirm that I wouldn’t have a 50 coming home from the pub
@eoin carroll: what is this “Pub” you talk about
@eoin carroll: Wearing the tracksuits for a month now i take it?
Jesus, I cant believe some of the comments here. Countless numbers of people will die because of this and apparently its a big joke!
@Fr. Fintan Stack: thank you for being practically the only person to empathise with Ethiopians. This is horrendous for them. It’s such a lovely country with the warmest, most welcoming people. A slight change in weather (too much or too little rain) can have devastating consequences. Mostly they worry they won’t get enough rain but now, cruelly, getting more than normal rain has caused the locust swarms which will destroy their food chain. It’s heartbreaking.
The usual journal experts will be along any minute now to blame the HSE and government for this as well
@jackamy: well locust and ffg.. The comparisons write themselves.
@jackamy: this would not of happened under a sinn fein government
@King B: I can think of others too!
@jackamy: What has the HSE got to say about this?
Just kidding.
I would say the story should say 5 times the area of Addis Ababa instead of comparing it to Moscow.
@Liam Collins: why don’t all the SF head out to Ethiopia to solve the problem. They could eat the locusts instead of wasting their nonexistent talents here.
@jackamy: dont be stupid Jack, it was 5G that did this
No no.. this is defo 5G’s doing
@Brendan Geoghegan: i get the reaction to 5g has been OTT to say the least but there is a valid conversation to be had to be honest… Dismissing it as a joke will only add fuel to the Gemma O Dohertys of society https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/topics/cellphones/index.html
They should eat the locusts. They won’t be hungry then.
Alright god, we get it, you hate us.
Locust are edible and kosher if ya need them to be. Think of them as flying prawns.
@Roy Donovan: They thought so but then realised this type of locusts has toxic fluids inside
@Seriousnojoke: l have no proof whatsoever but it is most likely the toxic fluids are from the pesticides the crops they eat are sprayed in. If I am correct the people are ingesting those chemicals anyway.
@Niall Bourke: No, it’s not mentioned in the recent research that it’s from pesticides. This type of locusts grows much larger than the normal ones to an extent that it starts to produce toxic fluids inside which makes them inedible for ducks or other birds.
@Seriousnojoke: just like SF
@Seriousnojoke: does cooking neutralise the toxins?
@Smiley: No. Some are heat stable to over 200 C
@Seriousnojoke: sent the locusts to China. They will eat anything. ( Hmm locust curry yum yum)
Plagues and locusts it is the end of times.
@MyBrokenKnees: so how come all the other times there were plagues and locusts in history, nothing ended?
@Alan Currie: hundreds of thousands died, over and over for centuries. We only became aware of it when explorers documented these events in recent times.
Should have closed the borders earlier
Nature speaks loud and clear this year!!
I read a few weeks ago that China were after exporting millions of ducks to Africa to fight the locust problem. Apparently one duck can eat thousands a day.
@Mairtin Antaine O Conaill: that was just an order for frozen duck for a takeaway in Addis Ababa
@Dean Anderson: Locust Kung Po… lovely.
@Mairtin Antaine O Conaill: That was just a theory… ducks couldn’t live in the desert. so China sent pesticide and supplies instead..
@Mairtin Antaine O Conaill: So long as they don’t send bats.
Some of the comments here are truly sickening.. people are dying and they make a joke about it. Some people are are disgusting horrible excuses of humanity.
Here’s a mad idea you know all those planes just sitting on Civilian and Military bases why not fly a few hundred of them around the clock until the swarm is destroyed . It’s not like crop dusters was invented yesterday
@Airwave81: at a guess I’d say you couldn’t use commercial passenger airliners as crop dusters.
@Airwave81: intake pipes smothered by locusts – goodnight
plagues and locusts swarms. the apocalypse is coming. lets blame FG for that too.
And we only have to deal with vultures
Locusts can be fried and eaten. They sell fried locusts, grasshoppers, silkwoms, scorpions and spiders in markets in Vietnam and Cambodia. So this swarm could be their food source.
have your say