South Korea plane crash: At least 177 killed after suspected bird strike

Youngest victim was a three-year-old

The youngest victim of the crash was a three-year-old boy, according to a list of passengers seen by local media outlets.

Five of those killed in the crash were children under the age of 10.

The oldest was a man aged 78.

What is Jeju Air and what is its safety record?

Jeju Air is South Korea's largest low-cost airline, with more than 12.3m passengers last year.

Formed in 2005, the company is named after Jeju Island - located to the south of the Korean Peninsula - which is home to the airline's headquarters.

The company has more than 3,000 employees and more than 40 aircraft, most of them Boeing 737-800s - a model widely used around the world.

South Korea is well-regarded in safety terms and is rated Category 1 in the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) International Aviation Safety Assessment Program.

Meanwhile, Jeju Air received an "A" - "very good" - safety grade in the latest South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's annual review of domestic airlines, according to the New York Times.

Witness says plane collided with flock of birds

A witness to the crash said the plane appeared to have suffered engine problems after colliding with a flock of birds.

Jeong, 50, told Yonhap news agency the plane collided head-on with a flock of birds while descending to land.

Jeong said some of the birds appeared to have been sucked into the engine.

He said he heard two or three "pop" sounds and saw flames coming out of the right engine.

Both black boxes recovered

Workers have recovered both black boxes from the wreckage of the jet - the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, according to the transport ministry.

It said eight aviation accident investigators and nine aviation safety supervisors have arrived at the site of the accident and are conducting an initial investigation.

A senior transport ministry official said the runway at the airport in Muan will be closed until New Year's Day.

It comes as the number killed rose to 177.

Ousted president offers 'deepest condolences'

South Korea's ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol has offered his "deepest condolences and sympathy" to those who lost loved ones in the crash.

Yoon was impeached after imposing martial law in South Korea. The huge political crisis also saw the impeachment of acting president Han Duck-soo, who has been suspended from duty.

"I extend my deepest condolences and sympathy to those who lost their precious lives and to the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones," Yoon said in a Facebook post.

"I am overwhelmed with grief and sorrow," he added.

"I trust that the government will do its utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident and support the victims. I also urge everyone to prioritise the safety of firefighters and all rescue personnel amid these urgent circumstances.

"I will stand with the people to help overcome this difficult situation as quickly as possible."

South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok visited the site a few hours after the crash and declared it a special disaster zone.

He said: "The government would like to offer its sincere condolences to the bereaved families and will do its best to recover from this accident and prevent a recurrence."

Crash is deadliest on South Korean soil

The Jeju Air crash is the deadliest ever on South Korean soil.

It is also the worst involving a South Korean airline since a 1997 Korean Air Lines plane crashed in Guam, killing more than 200.

The previous most deadly air accident in South Korea took place in 2002, when a Boeing 767-200 jet operated by Air China crashed into a hill near the city of Busan, killing 129 people and injuring 37.

It is one of the worst landing disasters in the world since an Airbus A320 slid off a slippery runway and collided with a nearby building in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in July 2007, killing all 187 people on board and 12 others on the ground, according to the Flight Safety Foundation nonprofit group.

In 2010, an Air India Express plane overshot a runway and plummeted into a gorge before erupting into flames in Mangalore, India, killing 158 people.

As of 10.25am at least 177 people are known to have been killed after a Jeju Air plane crashed during a landing at an airport in the southern city of Muan in South Korea.

Emergency workers pulled two crew members out of the Boeing 737-800 jet, which was carrying 181 people and returning from Thailand's capital Bangkok.

The remaining missing people are presumed to have been killed, according to firefighting authorities.

Local media footage showed the plane skidding down the runway, apparently without its landing gear deployed, before slamming into a wall and exploding.

South Korea's emergency office said the jet's landing gear appears to have malfunctioned.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, head of the Muan fire station, said investigations were ongoing into various possibilities about what may have caused the crash, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds.

Witnesses reported hearing a "loud explosion" and seeing sparks in the plane's engine before it crashed (see 7am post).

The cause of the crash is "presumed to have been a bird strike", one of the two rescued crew members told local media (see post at 8.40am).

Workers have retrieved the plane's black box and taken out the flight data recorder, but are still looking for the cockpit voice recording device.

Transport ministry officials have said their early assessment of communications records shows the airport control tower issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it intended to land.

Passengers on the flight included two Thai nationals and the rest are believed to be South Koreans.

Jeju Air expressed its "deep apology" over the crash and the company's president Kim E-bae bowed deeply with other senior company officials as he apologised to bereaved families, saying he feels "full responsibility" for the incident.

At least 174 confirmed dead

At least 174 people were killed in the crash, the fire agency has said in its latest update.

Of those, 83 were women, 80 were men and emergency workers were unable to immediately identify the genders of 11 others.

The agency said it had deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the blaze after the crash.

Around 1,560 firefighters, police officers and other officials were sent to the site, it added.

Families weep as names of victims read out

Families wept as the names of 22 victims identified so far were read out.

One relative stood at a microphone to ask for more information from authorities, saying: "My older brother died and I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know."

Another asked journalists not to film, telling them: "We are not monkeys in a zoo. We are the bereaved families."

Cause of crash 'presumed to have been bird strike', rescued crew member says

The cause of the crash is "presumed to have been a bird strike," one of the two rescued members of crew have told local media - as the number confirmed dead increased to 167.

"Smoke came out of one of the engines and then it exploded," Ms Ku, a female flight attendant in her 20s, told Yonhap news agency.

Another survivor, flight attendant Mr Lee, 33, said he did not remember the circumstances of the crash.

When he was being checked over by a doctor in hospital he reportedly asked: "Why did I end up here?"

He added: "I was wearing my seatbelt before landing, and it seemed like the plane had landed, but I don't remember anything after that."

He suffered a fractured left shoulder and head injuries, according to the Aju Business Daily newspaper.

Both survivors are in hospital and receiving treatment.

-SKY NEWS