iscover
The passengers in 2024’s deadly Jeju Air crash would likely have survived were it not for a concrete structure at the end of the runway, the South Korean government has admitted.
South Korea’s Land Ministry, in a report disclosed to the country’s National Assembly, said that the concrete mound supporting the localiser at Muan International Airport had failed to meet safety standards specifying it had to be breakable if located within 240 metres of the end of the runway.
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The mound’s location – 199 metres from the end of the runway – and design led to the destruction of Jeju Air flight 2216 on 29 December 2024 after the aircraft landed with no gear and skidded on its belly, which caused the deaths of 179 people. The ministry at the time had defended the installation as legal.
In total, 175 passengers were on board, including 173 South Koreans and two Thai nationals, alongside six crew. The two survivors were both identified as members of the crew who sat at the back of the aircraft and suffered severe but not immediately life-threatening injuries.
According to the government’s simulations, had the 737-800 landed on flat ground with no obstacles, it would likely have skidded around 630 metres before coming to a stop, allowing the passengers to be rescued, while a breakable structure would have caused less serious injuries and limited damage to the plane.
Opposition People Power Party representative, Kim Eun-hye, who obtained and disclosed the report, said full accountability is now needed for the disaster.
“This amounts to an acknowledgment that necessary safety improvements were not made during the 2020 upgrade,” she said.
“The hill that should have been breakable became a deadly barrier. We must uncover the full truth behind how this happened.”
Families of the victims have labelled the accident “a clear case of human error” and demanded the investigators officially apologise, as well as changes to legislation to ensure independent investigations; the full release of investigative materials; and a parliamentary inquiry.
South Korea last year said it was improving similar concrete mounds at seven of its domestic airports, days after the Transport Ministry also revealed that the two black boxes recovered stopped recording four minutes before the impact.
Muan International Airport has remained closed since the disaster.
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