Jeju Air flight disaster...179 dead, 2 rescued.

■ Host: Anchor Chung Chae-woon and Anchor Kim Jung-jin
■ Starring: Shin Gwi-hye, Social Affairs Reporter

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN Newsk] when quoting.

[Anchor] A Jeju Air flight from Bangkok carrying
181 people hit a wall and caught fire while landing on Muan International Airlines. 179 people died, except for the two men who were rescued. I'm in the press studio of Shin Gwi-hye of the Ministry of Social Affairs. Welcome. I'm really hurt by the news of the disaster, so please explain the accident first.

[Reporter]
I'll give you a brief overview. A Jeju Air flight 7C2216 crashed into an airport structure at the end of the runway while landing at Muan Airport, causing a fire. The plane attempted to make the first landing on runway 1 of Muan Airport, but raised the altitude again because it was difficult to land normally. Since then, we have tried to repeat, a type of emergency landing. It was landing on the runway with the body of the plane, but the speed was not properly reduced and it hit the outer wall. I'm trying to figure out why it was difficult to land on top. The passenger plane in the accident was found to have used a folding landing gear. It is believed that this is not working.

[Anchor]
The control tower announced the possibility of a bird collision just before the plane landed on runway 1?

[Reporter]
As explained by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, I will tell you by time zone. The plane, which crashed by time, first attempted to land on the runway at 8:54 a.m. before taking off again. This is called Bokbok. Three minutes later, at 8:57, I received information from the control tower that there was a tide. Two minutes later, the pilot made a Mayday request, a distress signal. Four minutes later, at around 9:03 a.m., the final collision occurred. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport explained that it is only presuming that there was still difficulty in controlling the bird due to the collision. Therefore, the failure to operate the landing gear and the collision of birds are being pointed out as the cause of the accident.

[Anchor]
It is known that the passenger plane in the accident was manufactured by Boeing, so which one is more accurate?

[Reporter]
Flight 7C2216 is a Boeing 737-800 manufactured by Boeing in the United States. It is confirmed that it has been 15 years, but it is a period that is hard to say that it has been long. Information on the airliner's captain and bookkeeper was also provided at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's briefing. The captain said he took the current position in March 2019, and the flight time was found to have been around 6,823 hours. It has been confirmed that the deputy chief has about 1650 hours of flight time and that he took over as the deputy chief in February last year.

[Anchor]
It's the most unfortunate part about this accident, but the casualties were very large.

[Reporter]
That's right. Except for the tail, the plane was damaged to the extent that it was difficult to recognize its shape, and the explosion occurred due to the collision, which seems to have increased the casualties. At that time, six crew members, 175 passengers, and 181 total were on board, of which 179 were found to have died. When classified by gender
there are 84 men, 85 women, and 10 people, respectively. As of 2:30 a.m., 133 people were identified. There are two people who have been rescued. There is one male flight attendant in his 30s and one female flight attendant in his 20s. The rescued two were injured and taken to a hospital, all of whom were believed to be on the tail of the plane.

[Anchor]
What is the health status of the rescued crew now?

[Reporter]
We held a briefing yesterday evening at Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, where a rescued male crew member was transferred. The thoracic spine and ribs have been fractured, and due to the possibility of aftereffects, the intensive care unit is closely monitoring them. The male flight attendant said he told the medical staff that he was rescued, but the hospital determined that it would not help him recover and said he did not ask specific questions about the accident. A female flight attendant also injured her head, and the plane seemed to crash with a sudden explosive roar.He is said to have told the medical staff. These statements are expected to help determine the cause of the accident.

[Anchor]
The identification of the dead is still ongoing, and it's taking a little longer, right?

[Reporter]
That's right. Of the 179 deaths, 133 have been identified so far. Police and fire authorities are identifying them with fingerprints or DNA. In some cases, it is difficult to collect fingerprints, so identification work is still ongoing through DNA matching with bereaved families. Police held an afternoon briefing and said they had taken all the DNA of the dead. It can be considered that identification is completed only after the final confirmation process through DNA matching.

[Anchor]
Since it's Muan Airport in Jeollanam-do, most of the passengers on the plane are Gwangju residents?

[Reporter]
That's right. Most of them are residents of Gwangju and Jeollanam-do. Gwangju Metropolitan City had the largest number of citizens with 81, followed by Jeollanam-do Province with 76, residents of other regions and Thais with 18 and flight attendants with 6. Among them, there were public officials, including five from the Jeollanam-do Office of Education and three from Hwasun-gun. It is found that there were also three students in Jeollanam-do, so the Jeonnam Office of Education has set up an accident countermeasure headquarters and is trying to find out if there are any additional students or faculty members on board.

[Anchor]
Is the scene of the accident still ongoing?

[Reporter]
The recovery of the dead has been completed, but other field activities remain. This is because you need to find belongings such as identification cards that will help you identify yourself. The fire department said it was searching the crew in three groups. The on-site training is expected to continue until dawn, and a joint inspection by related agencies will be held after that, but the time has not yet been set.

[Anchor]
What is the government's move now regarding the settlement of the accident?

[Reporter]
Acting President Choi Sang-mok visited the Central Disaster and Safety Situation Room at the Seoul Government Complex at around 9:50 a.m. yesterday after hearing the news of the accident. So, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters was activated immediately. Acting President Choi instructed the heads of related agencies, including the Minister of Public Administration and Security, to mobilize all available equipment and personnel to save lives. Later, he moved to Muan Airport in Jeollanam-do to examine the accident site, and the Muan area in Jeollanam-do, which was issued by the disaster, was declared a special disaster area. If it is declared a special disaster area, it can receive financial support prescribed by the Presidential Decree, and half of the damage recovery cost will be funded by the government. The Ministry of Economy and Finance decided to operate a 'Safety Accident Response and Support Task Force' to share information between ministries and implement follow-up procedures such as budget input following the declaration of a special disaster area.

[Anchor]
The passenger plane in this accident belongs to Jeju Air, so what is the airline's position?

[Reporter]
Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi-bae issued a public apology at a hotel in Seoul yesterday. If we find out the cause and feel responsible as the chief executive, we have expressed our apology. He also said he would make every effort to support the bereaved families. However, Jeju Air said there was no accident history of the plane in the accident and there were no abnormal signs in the results of regular maintenance. In this regard, Chairman Jang Young-shin of Aekyung Group, the parent company of Jeju Air, also issued a statement. He expressed his condolences to the victims of the accident and apologized to the bereaved families, promising to do his best to spare all support at the group level.

[Anchor]
In the future, we need to find out exactly what caused the accident, but the police have formed an investigation headquarters, right?

[Reporter]
That's right. The Jeonnam Police Agency made up 264 people yesterday. I'm in charge of accident management and rapid identification of the dead. An additional 131 scientific investigators and medical examiners have been deployed to confirm the personal information of the dead. In the future, we will investigate the cause of the accident with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Air Railroad Accident Investigation Committee. The police issued an emergency in the Muan area where the accident occurred, and an emergency in the adjacent Hampyeong and Mokpo areas, and entered an emergency service system.

[Anchor]
The prosecution also formed an accident response headquarters?

[Reporter]
That's right. The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office has formed an accident countermeasure headquarters with the chief of the district prosecutor's office as the head of the division. In this regard, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said it has instructed them to respond in cooperation with related agencies to quickly support victims and their bereaved families and thoroughly identify the cause of the accident.

[Anchor]
It is known that the United States is also participating in this investigation, so what do you think?

[Reporter]
That's right. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will lead a U.S. investigation team to help South Korean aviation authorities investigate, according to a Reuters report. This committee is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government in charge of investigating civil traffic accidents such as marine accidents and railroad accidents as well as aviation. The team will also include plane manufacturers Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

[Anchor]
It is known that it takes a long time to find out the truth of the aircraft accident, but please point out what questions the authorities should solve in the future.

[Reporter]
In this case, the aircraft tried to land for the first time and then took off again, and this reason seems to have to be clarified first. In addition, if you look at the report video, the accident appears to have occurred while attempting to land the fuselage without the landing gear operating. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also said that engine failures and non-operation of landing gear are not usually interlinked, but it is necessary to check which parts of the aircraft other than the landing gear are abnormal. Regarding the flight process, it is questionable whether the process was too rushed, and the airport is questioned whether the structure was made of concrete, which increased the impact of the accident. Investigative agencies are expected to take a comprehensive look at these questions.

[Anchor]
As we reported, it is essential to analyze flight records such as flight recorders and voice recorders, right?

[Reporter]
That's right. As it is an accident that has been urgently attempted to land on the fuselage without braking force, the question is expected to be solved only by precise analysis of the flight recording device. In particular, it is estimated that the aircraft landed from the middle of the runway, not the end of the runway, and in this regard, analysis of communication is also necessary. As there was also a notification from the control tower regarding bird movement, it is also necessary to check whether bird eradication activities have been carried out properly. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has secured flight recorders and voice recorders in this regard. However, there is a possibility that the flight recorder may have been damaged, so if previous aircraft accidents are considered together, the investigation could take months to years. Today, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will check whether the aircraft flight recorder and voice recorder can be analyzed.

[Anchor]
I think we need to analyze it thoroughly and solve the cause of the accident well. Let's stop here. I pointed it out with Shin Gwi-hye of the Ministry of Social Affairs. Thank you for talking today.