South Korea plane crash: Everything we know so far

It's the country's worst domestic civil aviation disaster, and a special disaster zone has been declared.

What happened?

Around midnight UK time (9am Sunday local time) a Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people attempted to crash-land at Muan International Airport, about 180 miles south of Seoul.

On its second attempt, it veered off the runway and crashed into a wall, quickly becoming engulfed in smoke and fire.

It did not have its landing gear deployed and was travelling at speed before crashing, footage appears to show.

What caused the crash?

A bird strike is one of the potential causes being considered by officials.

South Korea's transport ministry said the plane was sent a warning about a bird strike from the control tower before the fatal crash.

The pilot sent out a distress signal shortly before the accident. They had been given permission to land in a different area to usual.

The News1 agency reported that a passenger texted a relative to say a bird was stuck in the wing of the plane.

Their final message was said to have been: "Should I say my last words?"

Witnesses on the ground reported hearing a "loud explosion" and seeing sparks in the plane's engine before it crashed.

Officials are also looking at the weather conditions at the time of the crash.

As footage shows the landing gear was not deployed when the plane was attempting to crash land, a landing gear failure is also likely to be investigated.

The plane's black box has been retrieved, but workers are still looking for the cockpit voice recording device, a senior transport ministry official has said.

According to Yonhap News Agency, a passenger claiming to have travelled on the same plane two days ago said it had an engine had shut down as people were boarding.

What do we know about the flight?

Jeju Air flight 7C2216, a Boeing 737-800 jet, was on its way back from Bangkok, Thailand, at the time of the crash.

There were 173 South Koreans and two Thai people on board as well as six crew members, according to local media.

The plane followed a flight path northeast over Taiwan, according to tracking data from Flight Radar.

South Korea's transport ministry said the plane was manufactured in 2009.

Jeju Air said the plane had no previous record of accidents, and that there were no early signs of the plane malfunctioning.

Are there any survivors?

Two crew members have been rescued from the burning wreckage, according to local fire chief Lee Jeong-hyeon.

The man and woman, who were both found at the tail section of the plane, are now being treated in hospital with medium to severe injuries, according to the head of a local public health centre.

All other missing people are now presumed to have been killed.

Jeju Air is South Korea's largest low-cost airline, carrying more than 12.3 million 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.

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

What is the Boeing 737-800?

The plane was launched in 1994 by US company Boeing to replace its older 737 models, and it competes with the Airbus A320.

Nearly 5,000 have been sold worldwide since the launch of the 737-800, with Ryanair, United Airlines and American Airlines among the largest operators of the planes.

Often described as the "workhorse" of major commercial airlines due to its widespread use, the aircraft has a strong safety record.

While Boeing 737-800s have been involved in previous fatal crashes, most have been put down to poor weather conditions, human error, or other factors.

The last fatal crash involving a 737-800 was China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 in March 2022, when a plane crashed in Wuzhou, China, after descending steeply mid-flight.

The crash is still under investigation by China's civil aviation authority, though multiple reports have suggested the plane was deliberately crashed.

Other previous fatal crashes include in March 2016, when a Flydubai flight landing at Rostov-on-Don, Russia, crashed on the final approach in inclement weather, killing all 62 people on board.

More than 150 people were also killed in an Air India Express flight in May 2010, when a 737-800 overran the runway at Mangalore airport.

A report later found that the plane's captain had continued an unstabilised approach, despite three calls from the first officer to initiate a "go-around".

-SKY NEWS