Relatives of passengers of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft reacting near a make-shift shelter at Muan International Airport on Dec 30, 2024. - AFP)
SEOUL: South Korean authorities on Monday (Dec 30) confirmed the identities of 141 of the 179 victims who died in a plane crash at Muan International Airport on Sunday (Dec 29). Most were found to be residents of the Jeolla region where the aircraft was scheduled to land.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a morning briefing that 141 people have been identified as of 8:35am, and that the bodies of 165 have been placed in a temporary mortuary inside the airport in South Jeolla Province.
Family members of the victims, who were present at the briefing, will be notified when the bodies are ready to be transferred, following identity confirmation and autopsies.
The explosion and fire from the crash make it difficult to identify some passengers, and officials are using family DNA for confirmation.
Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 crash landed at the Muan International Airport at around 9am on Sunday without deploying landing gear due to a yet-unconfirmed cause, leaving all but two of the 181 people onboard dead.
The two survivors of the crash, both flight attendants, are being treated at local hospitals.
Of the 175 passengers onboard, 157 were residents of Gwangju or South Jeolla Province, 81 from the former and 76 from the latter. Six others were from North Jeolla Province, four were from Gyeonggi Province, three were from Seoul, two were from Jeju Island, and one each was from South Gyeongsang Province, South Chungcheong Province and Thailand.
One of the two Thai victims was a resident of South Jeolla Province. The residences of the two pilots and four flight attendants have not been released.
Regional governments across the country will set up joint memorials for the victims, including the one at the Muan Sports Park adjacent to the airport where the tragedy occurred.
Nearby Gwangju and North Jeolla Province are also planning to install memorials for the victims.
The Jogye Order -- the largest Buddhist sect in the country -- has set up a memorial at the Jogyesa Temple in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
The South Korean government has designated a seven-day national mourning period until midnight on Jan 4. - The Korea Herald/ANN
