South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok, in an emergency meeting on Sunday evening, declared a national mourning period until January 4 over the plane crash at Muan International Airport.

The Jeju Air passenger plane skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people on board died in one of the country’s worst aviation disasters.

The Transport Ministry said the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that had arrived in the South Korean city from Bangkok and that the crash happened at 9.03 am.

A total of 179 people - 85 women, 84 men and 10 others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable - died in the fire, the South Korean fire agency said. Emergency workers pulled two people, both flight attendants, to safety. Health officials said they are conscious and not in life-threatening condition.

A transport official said both black boxes - the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder - have been found.

In a televised news conference, Kim E-bae, Jeju Air’s president, bowed deeply with other senior company officials as he apologised to bereaved families and said he felt “full responsibility” for the incident. Kim said the company hadn’t identified any mechanical problems with the aircraft following regular checkups and that he would wait for the results of government investigations into the cause of the incident.

Family members wailed as officials announced the names of some victims at a lounge in the Muan airport.

Boeing said in a statement on X it was in contact with Jeju Air and is ready to support the company in dealing with the crash.

President Xi has sent his condolences to acting president Choi. (AP, AFP)

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Last updated: 2024-12-29 HKT 20:59