In one of the most tragic incidents, two flight attendants survived a plane crash in South Korea that killed 179 out of 181 people aboard. Operating from Bangkok, the Jeju Air flight was trying to land at Muan International Airport, 290 kilometers south of Seoul, when the disaster happened. The crash has drawn a massive rescue operation from emergency teams, sifting through the wreckage tirelessly since the accident.
The two survivors rescued from the tail section of the charred aircraft are Lee, 32, and Kwon, 25. Both survivors remained in shock and did not understand what had occurred. Lee, who sat in the back of the plane, kept asking “What happened?” and “Why am I here?” while being treated by medics at Mokpo Korean Hospital.
He said that Lee looked dazed and was almost incoherent in order to express his hurts. According to hospital officials, Lee, with a fractured left shoulder and head wounds, sustained during the fall but always remained conscious with bruises. He later, upon request from the family members, was taken to a Seoul hospital.
Kwon, the second survivor, is currently receiving treatment at Mokpo Central Hospital. She, too, has no memory of the crash. Her injuries-which include a laceration on her scalp, an ankle fracture, and abdominal pain-are still under assessment by the medical team. A hospital spokesperson confirmed the fact that though she was out of immediate danger, trauma and injury are nevertheless severe.
Preliminary investigations into the cause of the crash reveal that the plane crashed due to malfunctioning landing gear, causing it to skid off the runway and into a concrete fence before bursting into flames. The emergency responders retrieved 179 fatalities from the wreckage, leaving the flight attendants as the only survivors.
The black boxes of the plane have already been recovered by investigators. Experts in aviation are investigating possible maintenance failures or human error, but officials are not releasing any more information until a full analysis of the black box data is complete.
This disaster comes at a time when South Korea is embroiled in a serious political crisis, with the controversial declaration of martial law by President Yoon Suk Yeol being investigated. Yoon was removed from his presidency by a parliamentary vote amidst grave criminal charges, which could be punishable with imprisonment for life or execution. The acting president since the impeachment of Yoon, Choi Sang-mok, now confronts a complex interlinking of political and humanitarian crises with the sacking of President Yoon’s successor Han Duck-soo.
