124 people killed in Muan airport plane crash...Working on the rescue

[Anchor]
A passenger plane carrying 181 people hit a wall and caught fire while landing at Muan International Airport in Jeollanam-do.The number of casualties is increasing as the

accident has been resolved.

I'm connecting the reporter who is on the scene. Reporter Kim Minsung!

The number of deaths continues to increase, so please tell us the status of casualties.

[Reporter]
So far, a total of 181 people have been on board the plane.

Among them, there are 175 passengers and six crew members.

Unfortunately, 124 people have been confirmed dead so far.

Of the 120 people, 54 were male, 57 were female, and 13 were unidentified.

No additional rescue news has been heard except for two.

The two rescued were male and female crew members, each in their 20s, who were taken to a hospital for treatment.

Fire officials explained at a 1 p.m. briefing that neither of them was in critical condition.

Of the 175 passengers, all but two Thai passengers were identified as Koreans.

[Anchor]
How is the search going?

[Reporter]
Currently, the military and fire departments have been deployed to the scene to search the area.

The body was collected around the aircraft where the accident occurred in the first place.

The search scope has expanded a little bit now.

Not only where there is debris, but also the surrounding grasses are being searched by the military and rescue teams.

It is estimated that there are passengers inside the aircraft.

There seems to be a search operation on this interior as well.

[Anchor]
The situation on the ground looks very dizzy, what do you think?

[Reporter]
As you say, the fuselage is torn here and there, and the passengers' luggage is scattered, making it very dizzy.

I can see some of the plane's fuselage behind me, behind the barbed wire.

The tail wings appear to be blackened.

You can see several fragments from the plane around it.

There are a lot of debris scattered everywhere.

Outside the fence, citizens, who appeared to be the families of some passengers, could also be seen watching the on-site rescue operation with anxious faces.

[Anchor]
Is there any specific cause of the accident?

[Reporter]
The government says the plane was landing on the fuselage when the accident happened.

There is a possibility that the landing device, that is, the landing gear, may have attempted to land without opening.

The accidental passenger approaching runway 1 of Muan Airport attempted to land, but it was impossible to land normally, so it returned and attempted to land again.

The control tower gave the bird collision warning information, and immediately after that, the pilot reported Mayday and distress.

The pilot then accepted that the control tower would permit the landing in a different direction on the runway,

The aircraft that attempted to land in this way failed to slow down until it reached the end of the runway, hit the airport structure and damaged the fuselage and caught fire.

It took about two minutes from reporting the pilot's distress to the accident, and it took about three minutes from the initial landing attempt to the accident.

At the time of the accident, the aircraft attempted to land the fuselage while failing to lower the wheels, but the head was lifted.

However, there are some estimates that the tail does not completely touch the ground, so it does not seem to be a certain deceleration.

There was also a circumstance that all three landing gears, the wheels of the aircraft, did not come down normally, so they attempted to land the fuselage.

However, it seems that the cause of the accident should be investigated through the collection of black boxes.

So far, only flight recorders have been collected and will be investigated soon, and voice recorders have not yet been collected.

[Anchor]
How is the restoration of the dead and the support of the bereaved families?

[Reporter]
Many of the passengers' families are currently staying in the airport waiting room, where on-site briefings are repeated every 30 minutes.

In addition, the Korea Railroad Corporation said it will operate a special free temporary train for the families of passengers.

The temporary train from Seoul to Muan departs from Seoul Station at 3 p.m. and stops at Gwangmyeong Station, Osong Station, Iksan Station, Naju Station, and Mokpo Station in turn.

The temporary train bound for Seoul again leaves Mokpo Station at 8:30 p.m.

A joint memorial altar for airliner accidents will also be set up around 12 p.m. tomorrow.

It's 'Muan Sports Park' near the airport.

A waiting room for bereaved families will also be prepared on the third floor of the Muan Sports Center.

So far, this is YTN Kim Min-sung at the scene of the plane crash at Muan Airport in Jeollanam-do.