Summary of developments:
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One hundred and seventy-nine people are confirmed to have died in the catastrophic plane crash, which occurred on Sunday when a Jeju Air flight crash landed at Muan international airport.
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The plane appeared to land without landing gear before colliding with a concrete embankment and exploding. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
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Two members of the flight’s crew have survived, including a man who was awake and speaking to doctors today.
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Joe Biden offered his condolences and said the US was ready to provide “any necessary assistance”.
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The Korean government is offering funeral services and temporary housing to families of the victims of the crash.
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The country is in a seven-day national mourning period.
The passenger plane crash that killed 179 in South Korea comes at a time of political upheaval in the country, testing the government’s ability to administer a rapid disaster response, report the Guardian’s Raphael Rashid and Justin McCurry:
The incident has highlighted the potential risks that instability at the highest level of government poses to disaster response.
There were encouraging signs in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. South Korea’s rival political parties launched separate initiatives in response to the disaster, apparently setting aside the animosity of recent weeks.
The opposition Democratic party leader, Lee Jae-myung, left for Muan, where he plans to stay indefinitely to support rescue efforts, the Hankyoreh newspaper said, although he will stay away from the crash site while recovery operations continue.
The ruling People Power party, meanwhile, formed a taskforce focused on investigating the crash and supporting victims’ families. The party’s acting leader, Kweon Seong-dong, will visit Muan on Monday with taskforce members to “review accident response measures and prevention strategies” and meet bereaved families.
Joe Biden said in a statement on Sunday that he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the South Korea plane crash that killed all but two of the 181 passengers onboard.
“As close allies, the American people share deep bonds of friendship with the South Korean people and our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by this tragedy,” the statement said. “The United States stands ready to provide any necessary assistance.”
The father of a passenger who died in the Jeju Air crash in South Korea called the disaster “unbelievable”. Reuters reports:
Jeon Je-young keeps playing the video of the plane with his daughter and another 180 people on board slamming into a wall and bursting into flames at a South Korean airport.
His daughter Mi-sook died on board. He still can’t believe it. ‘When I saw the accident video, the plane seemed out of control,’ said 71-year-old Jeon. ‘The pilots probably had no choice but to do it. My daughter, who is only in her mid-40s, ended up like this. This is unbelievable.’
Mi-sook was a warm-hearted child, he said. She brought some food and next year’s calendar to his house on Dec. 21, which became his last brief moment with her. ‘She is much nicer than my son, sometimes asking me to go out for a meal,’ Jeon recalled, showing his last exchanges with his daughter on his mobile phone.
The Korean health ministry is reportedly providing counseling services to the families of the passengers who died in the catastrophic plane crash in Muan. The government has also offered temporary housing and help with funeral services to those families.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading a team of US investigators to help South Korea’s aviation authority in its investigation of the Jeju Air crash in Muan, Reuters reports. Boeing, the maker of the plane, and the Federal Aviation Administration are participating, NTSB said on Sunday.
A survivor of the deadly crash is awake and speaking with doctors, according to Yonhap News Agency. The 33-year-old flight attendant is one of two passengers who reportedly survived the Jeju Air crash that killed nearly all 181 people on board on Sunday.
The director of the Seoul hospital where the survivor is being treated told reporters that the patient is able to communicate and is not displaying memory loss or other cognitive symptoms. The other survivor, also a flight attendant, is reportedly in stable condition at a separate hospital.
Aviation experts question the theory that a bird strike caused the Jeju Air crash in South Korea that killed almost all of the 181 passengers on board, Reuters reports:
Uncertainty surrounds the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil, aviation experts said on Sunday, questioning how much impact a potential bird strike cited by authorities could have had in bringing down the Jeju Air flight.
The apparent absence of landing gear, the timing of the twin-engine Boeing 737-800’s belly landing at Muan International Airport and the reports of a possible bird strike all raised questions that could not yet be answered.
The single-aisle aircraft was seen in video broadcast on local media skidding down the runway with no landing gear deployed before hitting a wall in an explosion of flame and debris.
“At this point there are a lot more questions than we have answers. Why was the plane going so fast? Why were the flaps not open? Why was the landing gear not down?” said Gregory Alegi, an aviation expert and former teacher at Italy’s air force academy.
South Korean officials are investigating the crash of Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, including the impact of a potential bird strike and the weather. 179 of 181 people on board died.
Deputy Transport Minister Joo Jong-wan said the runway’s 2,800-metre length was not a contributing factor, and that walls at the ends were built to industry standards.
A spokesperson for Jeju Air was not immediately available for comment. Jeju Air declined to comment on the cause during news conferences, saying an investigation is under way.
Christian Beckert, a flight safety expert and Lufthansa pilot, said the video footage suggested that aside from the reversers, most of the plane’s braking systems were not activated, creating a “big problem” and a fast landing.
Beckert said a bird strike was unlikely to have damaged the landing gear while it was still up, and that if it had happened when it was down, it would have been hard to raise again.
“It’s really, really very rare and very unusual not to lower the gear, because there are independent systems where we can lower the gear with an alternate system,” he said.
The probe should paint a clearer picture, he added.
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179 people were killed in South Korea’s worst domestic civil aviation disaster on Sunday after a plane – flying from Bangkok – crashed while landing at Muan international airport shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT).
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Four crew members and all 175 passengers, including five children under the age of 10, were killed. Two people, both crew members, were rescued from the wreckage and taken to hospital. They suffered “mid to severe” injuries, authorities said.
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Most passengers were South Koreans, apart from two Thai nationals, thought to be aged 22 and 45.
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According to authorities, the youngest passenger was a three-year-old boy and the oldest was a 78-year-old.
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Investigators are examining bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors behind the crash. Yonhap news agency cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.
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The plane involved in the crash was a Boeing 737-800 flown by Korean budget airline Jeju Air. The runway at the airport is expected to be closed until 1 January.
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Jeju Air said it “sincerely” apologised – with top officials shown bowing deeply at a press conference in Seoul – and vowed to do all it could to help.
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South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, named interim leader of the country on Friday amid 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.
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A transport ministry official said workers had retrieved the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the plane’s black box. They will be examined by government experts, but it could take up to a month to decode the flight data as it was damaged in the crash.
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The country declared a seven day national mourning period effective from Sunday, with memorial altars to be set up nationwide.
Rebecca Ratcliffe is the Guardian’s south-east Asia correspondent
Thai media outlet Khaosod has spoken to Thiraphat Cha-ue, the uncle of Sirithon Cha-ue, 22, who is one of two Thai women killed in the crash.
Sirithon, known by the nickname Mei, had been travelling to visit her mother, Suthinee, who has lived in South Korea for 10 years, Thiraphat said.
Sirithon’s mother had been waiting to collect her at the airport. When Thiraphat saw the news on social media, he was too afraid to call her, he said.
Thiraphat described Sirithon as the pride of the family. She had won a scholarship to study airline business management at Bangkok University and was in the fourth year of her course, he said. She dreamed of being an air hostess.
“There were only three months left before she graduated,” he said, adding the family, from Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand, had been discussing going to her upcoming graduation ceremony in Bangkok.
Tomorrow he would travel with Sirithon’s two younger brothers to South Korea, he said, to bring back her remains.
Thailand’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement that South Korean authorities had confirmed two Thai passengers were among the fatalities.
In the statement, the ministry said:
The ministry of foreign affairs has already contacted the relatives of the deceased Thai nationals, while the Royal Thai Embassy has coordinated with the South Korean authorities and Jeju Airlines who are now facilitating the relatives’ travel from Thailand to South Korea.
The ministry of foreign affairs would like to express its deepest condolences to all of the families of the deceased for their immense loss, particularly during this holiday season when families are traveling to reunite with loved ones.
Among the 177 bodies so far found, officials have so far identified 88 of them, the fire agency said. The passengers were predominantly South Korean, as well as two Thai nationals. Many of the passengers were reportedly returning from a Christmas spent in Thailand.
Raphael Rashid is reporting for the Guardian from Seoul
South Korea’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, whose impeachment trial is pending following his failed martial law declaration earlier this month, wrote on Facebook a message expressing “deep condolences to those who lost their precious lives and to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones”.
“I am devastated and heartbroken,” Yoon said. “I believe the government will do its best to manage the accident and support the victims. I will stand with the people to overcome this difficult situation as soon as possible.”
Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba has said he was “deeply saddened by the loss of many precious lives” in a message released through Tokyo’s foreign ministry. It follows similar messages of condolences, including from China, the UK and Ukraine.