The plane crash at Muan Airport in South Jeolla Province...175 passengers on board

■ Host: Anchor Lee Ha-rin, Anchor Cho Jin-hyuk
■ Starring: Reporter Kim Seung-hwan

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

[Anchor]
We went on to point out the details of the accident again with YTN reporter Kim Seung-hwan. Welcome. First of all, the accident was reported at around 9:05 p.m., so let's summarize the details of the accident.

[Reporter]
First, it was reported to the fire department at exactly 9:03 p.m. After that, the fire department issued the first response stage at 9:13 and arrived at the scene at 14 minutes, then issued the third response stage at 16 minutes and then made an initial diagnosis at 46 minutes.

[Anchor]
First of all, the fire is initialized.

[Reporter]
The most important thing is how many lives are lost. So far, the rescue has been made up of two people. It is understood that one passenger and one flight attendant have been rescued so far. In addition, 28 people were found to have died. At that time, the number of passengers on the aircraft was 181. There were 175 passengers and six crew members. So far, 28 people have been killed and two have been rescued, but the rear side is believed to have died, and additional casualties are still being confirmed. I told you earlier that 181 passengers, 15 passengers, and 6 crew members were on board, but out of 175 passengers, 173 were Koreans and 2 were Thai. It is currently understood that both of you are women.

[Anchor]
If you look again at the exact flight, it is Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 that departed from Bangkok, Thailand, and entered Muan International Airport early this morning. You summarized 175 passengers and 6 crew members, a total of 181. You said 28 deaths have been confirmed so far.

[Reporter]
It has been confirmed that two people have been rescued so far, one passenger and one flight attendant.

[Anchor]
And you also mentioned the ratio of Koreans and foreigners.

[Reporter]
There were 175 passengers, of which 173 were Koreans and two were Thai.

[Anchor]
It was an aircraft coming into Muan Airport from Bangkok, Thailand. At around 9:07 p.m., the aircraft landing at Muan International Airport left the runway and hit the outer wall of the fence. I saw the accident screen and the half-broken screen, and it broke so seriously that I couldn't recognize the fuselage. How big of a collision did it become such a half-wave and the flames soared? Is there anything to be counted?

[Reporter]
The exact status of the accident or the cause has not yet been identified. However, the police understand that the fire broke out immediately after landing on the runway without the aircraft landing gear coming down, but all the aircraft are currently burnt out. It is said that there is no shape except for the tail compartment. So, the plane got on in a very short time, so we can estimate it at the moment.

[Anchor]
The reason why the rescue is carried out on the rear side is that the damage to the rest of the parts except the rear side is too severe, should I understand it like this?

[Reporter]
Except for the rear, there is currently very little shape left.

[Anchor]
After the emergency landing, we report that it hit the outer wall of the airport. If so, even if you tried to make an emergency landing with a fuselage landing for some reason or other, and succeeded in coming down without impact, you would slip and hit the wall. Can you guess like this?

[Reporter]
That's right. As you said, since the accident occurred after colliding with the outer wall so quickly, the fire seems to have started in a very instant. So it happened so quickly before any action was taken that we cannot find out what will happen in the future at the moment.

[Anchor]
We need to investigate the cause of the accident closely, but we are looking at various possibilities. First of all, the damage caused by the fire must have been considerable, so how long did it take to extinguish the fire in the early stages?

[Reporter]
Currently, it's about 9:14 after I received it at 9:03 and arrived at the site. And since the first examination took 46 minutes, the first examination was held in about 30 minutes, but as you can see in the report video, the fire broke out in an instant and our company received a lot of reports. That's why we understand that the accident happened very quickly without any time to take any action.

[Anchor]
I'm showing you a video of black smoke and flames soaring into the sky. You said you're getting a lot of reports. Please summarize exactly how the informants described the situation at the time.

[Reporter]
At the time, some informants said that a fire broke out while the plane was passing by. There were also people who said that they suddenly saw fireworks on the plane.

[Anchor]
Does that mean you could see flames while in the air during the landing process?

[Reporter]
Yes, there were people who said that.

[Anchor]
If that is true, it is possible to estimate the possibility of a problem with the plane even before landing on the ground. And if the fire department just received the report at 9:03 a.m., if it says it's right after the accident, we're telling you that the accident happened at 9:07 a.m.I think it would be better to move the timing earlier than that. So, it can be said that the plane had a fire accident just after 9 o'clock.

[Reporter]
Just a moment ago, when I told you about the informant, the aircraft flew low and exploded after the flame was seen on the wing and crashed, the informant told us YTN. So, I think this will also be a part that needs to be investigated when investigating how the accident occurred in the future.

[Anchor]
I'll organize it for you again. The plane crash was reported at 9:03 as reporter Kim Seung-hwan said. An accident occurred on a Jeju Air flight carrying 175 passengers. There were also six crew members on board. Unfortunately, it is estimated that more than 20 people have died so far. The plane left Bangkok, Thailand, early this morning and was on its way back to Muan. Listening to the caller, the plane crashed and the flames soared in an instant. This is what's being said.

So far, it is presumed that the landing gear did not come down and collided with the outer wall of the airport. Currently, all personnel and equipment are mobilized to extinguish the airplane fire. It's the first time we're in. We're rescuing passengers in the rear. I'm looking forward to hearing a lot about the survivors.

[Anchor]
Acting authority Choi Sang-mok is also known to be moving to the scene of the accident in Muan, Jeollanam-do. It is said that he left for Muan after hearing a briefing from the Central Disaster and Safety Situation Room. It is expected to lead the rescue situation on the spot. Reporter Kim Seung-hwan, you just explained the vivid sightings of the informants or something like this. Is there any sound or anything else?

[Reporter]
Since it was so urgent, we didn't hear any sound or other opinions, but from the field reporters, it seems that the death toll was concentrated in the rear. There was a message that the front part of the aircraft was inside the airport and the rear part of the aircraft was on the side of the wall based on the side that hit the wall toward the rear.

[Anchor]
If so, we have no choice but to estimate the possibility of the cause of the accident so far, so we are mentioning various possibilities. There is a possibility that an emergency may have occurred after colliding with a flock of birds in the air. There is a possibility that there is a defect in the gas in the first place. Because the landing gear didn't come down. Then, for another unknown reason, the possibility of an accident while attempting an emergency landing cannot be ruled out. Have reporters currently been covered about the cause of the accident?

[Reporter]
So far, nothing special has been released other than what you told me. When we looked into the weather at the time, there was nothing so unusual.
The wind was weak and the weather was good. Also, the municipal government was around 1km and the temperature was around 2 degrees, so it wasn't such a special situation. So it wasn't like there was a problem all of a sudden due to the weather. Currently, there is talk of Bird Strike, but it is not yet clear, so it needs to be understood more.

[Anchor] The bird strike you mentioned is considered to be the cause of every airplane accident. Recently, American Airlines, which left New York Airport at around 7:20 p.m. on the 12th and was heading to North Carolina, also lost a right engine in the sky not long after takeoff, and if you look at the video, we saw a bird being sucked in at a high speed toward the right engine. So we've looked at the possibility of bird strikes.

Some analysts say that it may lead to a bigger accident because it happened during landing.

[Reporter]
It's said that taking off and landing on an airplane is the most dangerous. I can't focus on landing, but we showed it to you through a report video, but there didn't seem to be any time to prepare because an accident suddenly occurred. So, for now, an accident occurred very quickly, so it can be said that life damage has occurred right now.

[Anchor]
We're continuing to show you the on-site drawings. All the fireworks are out now. Evolution is complete. Now, as rescue authorities begin search and rescue operations, the number of casualties is being counted one after another. Given this situation so far, it seems that the fire rather than the impact may have been the cause of major casualties, but what is the atmosphere at the site?

[Reporter]
Currently, we haven't heard from the on-site reporters yet. Next, we haven't heard anything about the number of people rescued, the number of deaths, or changes yet.