After the Muan plane accident, there was a raid at the airport, among other places – apparently because of allegations of negligence. Investigations are also continuing at the crash site. A flight recorder could provide information.
Police searched the airport in Muan County, southwest Korea, after the fatal plane crash. The office of the airline Jeju Air was also affected, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing officials. The search warrant was based on allegations of negligent actions resulting in death.
“The police plan to determine the cause and responsibility for this accident (…) quickly and precisely,” said a police statement, according to the AFP news agency. Police also said there had been a raid on a regional aviation office.
The Boeing landed on its fuselage without the landing gear deployed and crashed into a wall.
Tower had warned of bird strikes
Jeju Air's Boeing 737-800 landed on its fuselage at Muan airport on Sunday without the landing gear down, slid across the road and crashed into a wall. 179 of the 181 inmates were killed. Two crew members survived.
Immediately before the crash landing, the pilots reported a collision with birds – a so-called bird strike – which the tower had warned about shortly before. It is unclear how the bird strike could be related to the malfunction of the landing gear.
The plane had come from Bangkok, Thailand. Apart from two Thais, there were only Koreans on board.
Investigators from the USA are also on site
In addition to Korean experts, representatives of a US authority and the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing are currently investigating at the scene of the accident. Both flight recorders were recovered and the voice recorder data was transferred from the cockpit. The second flight recorder was damaged in the accident and will be further examined in the USA.
After the accident, South Korea also initiated an investigation into aircraft of the same type among its domestic airlines.
The wall at the end of the runway where the plane crashed also came into focus. According to some experts, the concrete structure around the antenna system that supports pilots when landing would not have been necessary. It may have made the extent of the disaster even worse.
