They were able to text a family member shortly before the plane crashed
The death toll from a passenger plane that crashed in South Korea has risen to 179, meaning that all of the passengers and four of the plane’s six crew members are now confirmed to be dead.
Two crew members were recovered alive from the site of the horrific crash and taken to hospital, meaning that the immediate fate of all 181 people on board the flight is now known.
The flight was a Jeju Air passenger plane, a Boeing 737-800 jet, which had departed from Bangkok, Thailand, and crashed following an emergency landing at an airport in the South Korean town of Muan.
All passengers and four crew members on board the plane are confirmed to have died (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Footage of the crash appeared to show the plane skidding across the runway without having deployed its landing gear before it collided with a concrete wall and exploded.
Much of the plane was destroyed by the crash, with only the aircraft’s tail section recognisable from the debris.
According to the BBC, local news outlets have reported that one of the passengers sent a text message to a family member saying a bird was ‘stuck in the wing’ of the plane.
“Should I leave my last words,” was the final message they were able to send before the plane crashed, and with all passengers confirmed to be dead, that would have been the last message the person was able to send out.
The plane made an emergency landing at an airport in the South Korean town of Muan, but the landing gear failed to deploy (Twitter)
An investigation into the crash confirmed that the plane had been attempting to land before it was given a bird strike warning from air traffic control.
Around two minutes later, the plane issued a mayday warning and the flight was given permission to land at the airport, with the aircraft then coming into contact with the ground without the landing gear deployed before it skidded into the wall.
The plane’s black box has been recovered from the site of the crash so investigators will be able to learn what happened to the plane in the final moments.
South Korea’s government has declared a seven day period of mourning, and family members of the passengers on board the plane who had gathered at Muan International Airport will know the tragic news that their loved ones did not survive.
A passenger on board the plane sent a message to a family member saying a bird was ‘stuck in the wing’ before the crash. (BBC)
The runway will remain closed until New Year’s Day.
The two crew members who were taken from the plane still alive suffered ‘mid to severe’ injuries, while authorities said that the youngest passenger on board the plane was three-years-old, and the eldest being 78.
Five of the passengers on board the flight were children under the age of 10.
While a bird strike or weather conditions are being considered as causes of the crash, the exact cause has not yet been confirmed.
Featured Image Credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images / BBC
