As authorities investigate a passenger jet crash, police conduct a ‘search and seizure operation’ at the airline’s offices and the airport.
Police in South Korea have banned Jeju Air chief executive Kim E-bae from leaving the country amid an investigation into the deadliest-ever air disaster on South Korean soil.
The move came on Thursday as aviation authorities stepped up their probe into the cause of the deadly crash of Jeju Air Flight 2216 on Sunday, which killed 179 of 181 people on board, with the police issuing a statement saying they planned to “swiftly and rigorously determine the cause and responsibility” for the accident.
The Jeonnam Provincial Police Agency said it conducted “search and seizure operations” at Muan airport, where flight 2216 crashed, a regional aviation office in the southwestern city, and Jeju Air’s office in the capital, Seoul, early Thursday morning.
South Korean officials said Wednesday that they had extracted initial data from one of the two black boxes of a Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The other, damaged during the crash, will be shipped to the United States for analysis.
South Korean authorities have begun inspecting all Boeing 737-800 aircraft currently in service and conducting an extensive investigation into all airline operations within the country.
Country acting president Choi Sang-mok said on Thursday that immediate action must be taken if the inspections reveal any problems with the aircraft model.
“As there’s great public concern about the same aircraft model involved in the accident, the transport ministry and relevant organisations must conduct a thorough inspection of operation maintenance, education, and training,” Choi said.
Aviation experts have raised a series of possible causes and contributing factors in the disaster, including a collision with birds, mechanical failure, and a hardened embankment less than 300 metres (328 yards) from the end of the runway.
Boeing 737-800 belly landed with its landing gear retracted immediately after the pilot reported to the air traffic that he experienced a bird strike just before hitting a concrete embankment, where it exploded on fire.
