South Korea plane crash: Only two survivors as Jeju Air flight carrying 181 crashes

South Korean acting president Choi Sang-mok, named interim leader of the country on Friday in an ongoing political crisis, arrived at the scene of the accident and said the government was putting all its resources into dealing with the crash.

The interim president had earlier ordered officials to employ all available resources to rescue the passengers and crew before he headed to Muan.

Authorities have confirmed at least 127 dead in the Jeju Air plane crash and only two crew members have reportedly been rescued.

In a televised news conference, Kim E-bae, Jeju Air’s president, bowed with other senior company officials as he apologised to bereaved families and said he takes “full responsibility” for the incident.

Mr Kim said the company hadn’t identified any mechanical problems with the aircraft following regular checkups and that he would wait for the results of government investigations into the cause of the incident.

The crashed air carrier Jeju Air has issued a statement expressing its “deep apology” over the crash and said it will do its “utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident”.

Officials are looking into various possibilities about what caused the Jeju Air plane to crash, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds, said Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station.

The plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognizable among the wreckage, Mr Lee said.

According to the transport ministry officials, early assessment of communication records show the airport control tower issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it intended to land and gave its pilot permission to land in a different area.

The pilot sent out a distress signal shortly before the plane went past the runway and skidded across a buffer zone before hitting the wall, the officials said.Senior transport ministry official Joo Jong-wan said workers have retrieved the flight data recorder from the plane’s black box and are still looking for the cockpit voice recording device.

He earlier said that government investigators arrived at the site to investigate the cause of the crash and fire.Emergency officials in Muan said the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned.

The death toll from South Korean plane crash stands at 120, the country’s national fire agency said.

The Jeju Air passenger flight had 181 passengers onboard.

The death toll in the South Korea plane crash has risen to a total of 96 as officials expect the casualties to rise further.

At least 96 people — 48 women and 47 men — died in the fire, the fire agency said. The gender of one dead person wasn’t immediately verified, it said.

Emergency workers pulled out two people, both crew members, to safety, and local health officials said they remain conscious. The fire agency deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire, it said.

The National Fire Agency said rescuers raced to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people at the airport in the town of Muan, about 290km (180 miles) south of Seoul.

The transport ministry identified the plane as a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet and said the crash happened at 9.03am local time.

The CEO of South Korean airline Jeju Air apologised to the victims of today’s plane crash that has killed at least 85 people.

In a short media briefing, CEO Kim E-bae said that supporting the bereaved was a top priority for now.

Boeing offered condolences and said it is in touch with South Korea’s Jeju Air after the deadly crash of an airliner this morning.

The crash involved a Boeing-made 737-800, according to Jeju Air.