The plane crash at Muan Airport in South Jeolla Province...More than 170 people died.

■ Host: Anchor Park Seok-won, anchor Yoo Da-hyun
■ Starring: Kim Da-hyun, reporter for the Ministry of Social Affairs

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

[Anchor]
This time, let's point out the related news again with Kim Da-hyun, a reporter from the Ministry of Social Affairs. Reporter Kim, welcome. I think the video of the accident recovery scene came in this time, so can you explain it while watching this?

[Reporter]
I'll tell you while watching the video. You are watching the video of the accident recovery site at Muan International Airport. The brightly lit place is Muan Airport. It's dark, but heavy equipment such as military, fire, and cranes are still being deployed to the site to search the area and recover the site. You can even see the crane being put into the accident site and lifting the rear of the aircraft.

[Anchor]
Next, please point out the number of casualties confirmed so far.

[Reporter]
So far, 177 passengers have died, 82 men, 84 women, and 11 people are still being confirmed. I also kept telling you that there were two people who were rescued, but no additional rescue news has been heard yet. The two rescued people were conscious at the time of discovery, but were injured and taken to a hospital in Seoul. The rescuer was identified as a crew member who was on the tail of the plane.

[Anchor]
Then, what is the nationality of the people who were on the plane now?

[Reporter]
The plane was leaving Bangkok, Thailand, and entering Muan International Airport when the accident occurred. The passengers on board were confirmed to be 173 Koreans and two Thai nationals. The total number of passengers on this plane is 181, including six crew members.

[Anchor]
Even now, we are delivering videos of the accident recovery site. As you can see, the search continues, right?

[Reporter]
That's right. We are continuing to search by mobilizing heavy equipment such as cranes. However, it seems that the scope of the search has been slightly expanded. Rescuers are searching not only where there is debris but also the surrounding grass. In addition, the authorities explained that a large number of passengers seem to be inside the aircraft, but there seems to be still a search operation inside.

[Anchor]
You're looking at the scene of the accident, and you can see the tail of the aircraft where the accident occurred and it's blackened. I think the list of passengers is being identified, but are the personal information of the dead confirmed?

[Reporter]
In fact, it is reported that the accident plane is having difficulty identifying the victims because only the tail is shaped and the rest has been damaged beyond recognition. So, the guardians will check their identities at the on-site temporary morgue and move them to the funeral home when all of them are confirmed next time.

[Anchor]
Some people seem to have been identified, but because of that, unfortunate stories are being delivered. Students and faculty were included among the passengers?

[Reporter]
That's right. It has been confirmed that five faculty members and three students from South Jeolla Province were on board the plane that had an accident at Muan Airport in South Jeolla Province. So, the Jeonnam Office of Education also set up an accident countermeasure headquarters and started supporting it. First of all, there are about 10 people who seem to be on board, so we will figure out the current situation and proceed with the support work accordingly. Also, many of the passengers are now at the end of the year. So, it has been confirmed as family travelers who went on a trip at the end of the year, adding to the regret.

[Anchor]
And because this was the plane that arrived at Muan Airport, most of the people on board were Gwangju residents?

[Reporter]
It's appearing one after another, and it turns out that most of the passengers are residents of Gwangju and Jeollanam-do. As the citizens of Gwangju Metropolitan City said, 81 people are the most. Next, South Jeolla Province residents were identified as 76, residents of other regions and 18 Thais, and as I mentioned, there were 16 crew members. Among them, public officials are included. There are five members of the Jeollanam-do Office of Education and three members of Hwasun-gun. In total, 13 public officials were confirmed.

[Anchor] It's been about 11 hours since the
accident, so let's summarize the accident revealed by the Korea Airports Corporation.

[Reporter]
Let me summarize how the airport corporation revealed it. First of all, a fire broke out when the plane broke away from the end of the runway and hit the structure while landing at Muan Airport. The plane initially attempted to land on runway 1 of Muan Airport, but it rose again because it was difficult to land normally. However, after that, I tried to land the fuselage, a type of emergency landing, but it did not slow down, so I hit the outer wall at a fairly high speed. Why was it difficult to land normally? This is the part that needs to be investigated in the future, but in fact, the passenger plane in the accident has to use a folding landing gear, or a landing device, but it does not seem to have worked properly.

[Anchor]
But didn't the airport mention the bird collision before the plane landed?

[Reporter]
That's right. This is the explanation of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which is in charge of aviation safety. I'll explain it in detail by time and organize it again. First, we have permission to land the control tower at 8:54 a.m. before the accident, so we try to land first. About three minutes later, at 57 minutes, he received a signal from the control tower that there was a tide. But after that, I went back up again, so I think it went up because of the notification that there was a tide. It was also followed by a pilot Mayday request at 59 minutes and a final crash at 9:3 minutes. In fact, I should have gone back to the other side after consulting with the control tower, but as the anchor mentioned, it seems that it was moving quite short and coming down, leading to a sad accident.

[Anchor]
How is the investigation of the cause of the accident going on now, even though it was a briefing from the authorities that it would take a considerable amount of time to investigate the cause?

[Reporter]
Since this issue is so serious and the damage is significant, we are now responding by dividing our roles across the government. First of all, the on-site rescue and emergency situations are handled by the Fire Department. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plays a role in investigating the cause of the accident and preventing recurrence of the accident, and local governments are sharing their roles in dealing with the accident, including support for the victim's family.

[Anchor]
The police also set up an investigation headquarters, right?

[Reporter]
That's right. The Jeonnam Police Agency has taken the helm. Today, the investigation headquarters was formed in connection with the Muan aircraft accident, with Officer Na Won-oh as the head of the headquarters, and all 264 investigation headquarters were organized comprehensively. The role of the police is also playing this role because it is important to deal with accidents and to quickly identify the dead. As I said, it is expected to investigate the cause of the accident with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Air Railroad Accident Investigation Committee.

[Anchor]
The cause investigation is also a cause investigation, but it seems that there is an illegal matter, so how is this done?

[Reporter]
The accident appears to have occurred while attempting to land the fuselage once the landing gear is not working, but many questions are being raised. As shown in the video, the investigation is expected to continue because the runway length is too short because it is showing a very strong impact on the airport structure after failing to slow down and the structure was too hard concrete to prevent the impact.

[Anchor]
And there seems to be additional news about the prosecution situation. What is it about?

[Reporter]
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office has announced its position. In connection with today's Muan Airport accident, we need to find out the cause of the accident in order to quickly support victims and their bereaved families. It is said that he ordered to respond in cooperation with related organizations for these activities. The Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office formed an accident countermeasure headquarters led by the chief of the district prosecutor's office. He said he would cooperate closely with related agencies and make sure to respond to the initial response.

[Anchor]
I see. I'll stop listening to it. So far, we've been with reporter Kim Da-hyun from the Ministry of Social Affairs. Thank you.