Department of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, all of the recording devices...Choi Sang-mok Declares a Disaster Zone

[Anchor]
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which investigated the cause of the accident, secured both flight recorders and voice recorders to find out the situation.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok has started directing the site of the accident, declaring it a special disaster area. Reporter Kim Ki-bong!

Please tell us what the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has revealed.

[Reporter]
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held the fourth briefing on the accident for about 30 minutes from 5 p.m. just now to explain the details of the accident so far.

The aircraft first tried to land at Muan Airport at 8:54 a.m. this morning, but three minutes later, at 8:57 a.m., it received a bird-movement alert from the control tower and two minutes later, at 8:59, the pilot made a Mayday request, a distress signal.

And four minutes later, it was announced that the final collision took place.

However, we have not given a definitive answer on why the engine was damaged during the first landing attempt, and why the landing gear did not open at the time of landing but landed on the fuselage.

However, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was cautious that investigating the records would reveal the exact circumstances because it had secured both types of black boxes, flight recorders and voice recorders.

It said two crew members at the tail of the plane survived out of 181 total passengers, but the death toll continues to rise with no additional survivors found.

Separately, a local accident management headquarters, headed by the head of the Busan Regional Aviation Administration, was set up at the accident site to deal with the accident.

It said 1,572 people, including firefighters, police and local governments, were deployed to the scene, including eight investigators and nine supervisors of the accident investigation committee, to deal with the accident.

It also said that the runway of Muan Airport, where the accident occurred, will be closed until 5 a.m. on January 1, three days later.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok has been directing at the accident site at Muan Airport since around 1 p.m., and once declared Muan-gun, where the accident occurred, a special disaster area.

Acting President Choi presided over the 2nd Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Meeting at Muan County Office,

I pray for the rest of the victims of this accident and express my sincere condolences to the bereaved families.

He also said he would do his best to help the injured recover quickly.

In addition, he said he is preparing to declare a special disaster zone at the accident site, and will thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident and come up with measures to prevent recurrence.

So far, I'm Kim Ki-bong of YTN in the Ministry of Economy.