[On-site Video+] "The Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to go to the site after receiving reports on pending issues."

[Park Sang-woo / Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]
As the minister in charge of aviation safety, I would like to express my deepest apologies and condolences to the bereaved families and the public for the Jeju Air accident at Muan Airport that occurred today.

At 09:03 a.m. today, Jeju Air Flight 2261 from Bangkok to Muan caused a sad and tragic accident at Muan Airport.

The government is responding closely with related ministries by immediately operating the Central Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and establishing the Central Accident Response Headquarters to quickly deal with accidents.

The government will invest all available resources to quickly rescue, deal with accidents, and support bereaved families and thoroughly identify the cause of the accident. As of this time, Acting President Choi Sang-mok is arriving at Muan Airport and will soon preside over a meeting of the Central Countermeasures Headquarters to deal with the accident.

From now on, the government will take measures to save lives, recover victims and prepare for funerals, comfort and explain the cause of the accident, thorough investigation of the cause of the accident and future measures, and to prepare alternatives for other international flights that may occur in today's accident, and to ensure urgent aviation safety for other airlines and airports.

For more information, the head of the aviation policy office will brief you on the status of the accident.

[Interview]
I'm the head of the aviation policy office.

I will give you the second briefing on the response to the Muan Airport aircraft accident.

As I said earlier in the first briefing, the Central Disaster Management Headquarters is in operation as of 09:30 p.m.

The current situation of handling the accident is as follows.

First of all, it's a damage situation.

The aircraft was burned down and casualties totaled 181 passengers. Among them are 175 passengers, including two Thai nationals.

And six crew members. It's 181 people in total.

Among them, 85 people were confirmed to have died.

This is the second structure status.

Two people have been rescued and one person has been transferred to Mokpo Korean Hospital and one person to Mokpo Central Hospital.

And it's the place where the victims are laid to rest.

Currently, it is temporarily placed in a temporary morgue installed in Muan Airport.

Next is the cause of the accident.

An investigator from the Air Rail Accident Investigation Committee arrives at the scene at 10:10. As soon as the accident is resolved, we plan to investigate the cause of the accident.

In addition, 723 officials, including the Korea Airports Corporation, the National Fire Agency, the police, the military, the coast guard, and local governments, have been mobilized to establish a cooperative system between related agencies.

Finally, a regional accident management headquarters is set up at the site, headed by the head of the Busan Regional Aviation Administration.

We plan to make every effort to support bereaved families and others. That's about it.

[Reporter]
If the site is burned down now, a black box to identify the accident.

[Interview]
I will understand the situation more and tell you about the detailed situation of the site, such as whether the black box is recovered or not, at the briefing later.

[Reporter]
What's going on in the field now?

[Interview]
The first thing to do is to deal with it on the spot. So, we are dealing with the victims and those in the aircraft, and I think it will be possible to collect the black boxes and collect them after the recovery is done to a certain extent. For now, we are prioritizing the settlement. There was no separate report on the maintenance we carried out on a daily basis. We will look at the maintenance history of the aircraft once again and tell you again later.

[Reporter]
One thing is whether Muan Airport has a short runway from other airports, or maybe the accident has become bigger. If you look at other airports, there's something that mitigates the impact with sand, but Muan Airport doesn't have this. And it's been 20 days since Jeju Air launched from Muan Airport, so please check if that's right.

[Interview]
The runway length is 2800m. However, it is said to be a C-class aircraft similar to the aircraft that had an accident before. It is the airport where such aircraft have continued to operate. Therefore, it is difficult to say that such an accident occurred due to the length of the runway.

In addition, there are parts that are basically equipped with facilities in the airport, such as the sand defense facilities you mentioned earlier. So, as I watched the situation where the accident was resolved, I checked it again and told you again, and then recently, the flight resumed. That's right that it's started again recently.

[Reporter]
Can you explain the cause of the accident, at least what has been confirmed so far?

[Interview]
There are a lot of opinions.Ma believes that the aviation authorities should conduct a more accurate investigation and tell you the results to eliminate confusion. As soon as we are settled, we will investigate the cause of the accident through investigators dispatched to the site and brief the results again.

[Reporter]
When do you think a full-scale accident investigation will be possible?

[Interview]
First of all, as I said earlier, the first thing to do is to fix it. So, various ministries and agencies are doing their best to deal with the situation. So we will investigate immediately as soon as we can settle it.

[Reporter]
In the article, it is said that it is a problem with landing gear, but it comes out as if it was confirmed by the airport authorities, but what is the position of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on this?

[Interview]
The first sightings may differ from the conclusions we make after investigating the aircraft. There are various contents such as bird strike problems and landing gear malfunction problems, and what I'm telling you is that we need to clarify the cause first.

[Reporter]
I'm asking you a question just to confirm that the aircraft landed once and went around and back again, is that right?

[Interview]
So, information is coming in that you've been going around and back again. However, we will accurately consider the trajectory with the control agency at Muan Airport and check it again and tell you.

[Reporter]
There is an urgent request to the control tower because it is difficult to land in the control room, but it is confirmed.

[Interview]
That hasn't been confirmed yet. In the process of investigating the cause of the accident, communication records and communication records between the captain and the control tower will be checked. But we haven't checked that yet.

[Reporter]
You said there was no problem with the runway, but if you look behind it, it's called a spare site. I hit the wall right away. Have you found out how long such a spare site is and how short it is compared to other airports?

[Interview]
There are a number of standards while operating airport facility maintenance. So all airports will be operated according to that standard. So I take care of those things that are artificially short.Ma once again, we will look at the sand defense part and tell you again about the standard.

[Reporter]
There must have been a communication between the control tower and the aircraft, did you check with the control tower about what went back and forth?

[Interview]
As I just told you, we plan to find out that part during the investigation of the cause of the accident. Anyway, I will find out if there were any unusual situations in the control contents and tell you additionally.

[Reporter]
I landed on the fuselage, and I think there will be a manual for the fuselage landing, so please tell me what kind of manual there is for this.

[Interview]
The fuselage landing...

[Interview]
The procedures for landing the fuselage when the landing gear is not unfolded are also basically mentioned in the airline manual. So I know that pilots are also doing such training, so I think we need to get a more accurate picture of the situation.

[Interview]
I will understand the various situations you asked me now and continue to brief you periodically to let you know.

[Reporter]
You said you would investigate, but how long will it take to investigate such as the contents of the control tower's communication?

[Interview]
I think I can start it first and tell you after that. As another reporter said earlier, we plan to investigate the maintenance history of the aircraft separately. There are cycles according to the Aviation Safety Act and there are contents to be maintained, and we will check whether they have been followed thoroughly.

[Reporter]
I heard that the passenger plane that crashed today was defective in the past, is that right?

[Interview]
I think we should compare today's aircraft to see if there were more aircraft safety problems than other aircraft. However, there were no special reports about it or anything like that.

[Reporter]
It would be nice if you could tell me where and how the two survivors were rescued, such as the weather conditions at the time of the accident and whether all other planes landed normally before the plane landed.

[Interview]
The location of those rescued and such status should be checked with the National Emergency Management Agency, which is actually carrying out rescue activities at the scene. And regarding the weather, today's weather is cloudy in Muan. That's how the information was. But perhaps it is necessary to reconsider whether this was a weather situation dangerous to aircraft safety. Perhaps during the investigation process, we plan to investigate the causes of the various accidents I mentioned earlier and take a look together.

[Reporter]
It's a pity to ask, but they said the settlement should come first. I heard that there were two people in the rescue team. If you have heard anything about the possibility of additional rescuers at the site, please let me know.

[Interview]
The authorities are doing their best to rescue them. So, we will tell you when there are things that are rescued.

[Reporter]
There are those who have been rescued, there are deaths, and there are people who have not yet been identified.

[Interview]
The Central Disaster Management Headquarters and the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters are operating like this. So, I will also tell you that those who have been rescued appropriately in cooperation with local governments, medical institutions, and health authorities are confidential about the status of treatment.