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177 KILLED IN SOUTH KOREAN PLANE CRASH AS POPE FRANCIS MOURNS
A Jeju Air passenger plane with 181 persons aboard burst into flames on the ground early Sunday morning in South Korea.
According to BBC, the Transport Ministry has identified the plane as a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet returning from Bangkok in Thailand, with two Thai nationals on board.
About 177 persons have so far been confirmed dead, with the death toll expected to rise, officials said.
The plane had skid off the runway before ramming into a concrete fence when its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy.
Rescue workers are still searching for bodies strewn across the airport as thick, black smoke billows from the wreckage.
Chief of Muan fire station, Lee Jeong-hyeon, said the plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognisable among the wreckage.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted witnesses as saying they saw sparks and heard an explosion before the crash.
Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was staying near to the airport, tells Yonhap he saw a spark on the right wing shortly before the crash.
Kim Yong-cheol, 70, said the plane failed to land initially and circled back to try again.
Yong-cheol said he saw “black smoke billowing into the sky” after hearing a “loud explosion”.
“I saw the plane descending and thought it was about to land when I noticed a flash of light,” another witness named Cho added.
“Then there was a loud bang followed by smoke in the air, and then I heard a series of explosions.”
Meanwhile, Pope Francis has expressed his condolences to those who lost loved ones in the crash.
On Sunday noon, after praying the Angelus from the window of his study, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, before more than 30,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said that “my thoughts are directed to the numerous families of South Korea who are today in mourning after the dramatic plane crash.”
“I join in the prayer for the survivors and the dead,” added the supreme pontiff, according to a statement from the Holy See’s press office.
A report on the Bishop of Rome’s statements about the tragedy, was published on the digital site of the Vatican New, says that the Pope was dismayed by the deaths of at least 177 people after the fire of the aircraft, which belonged to Jeju Airlines.
On the flight, from Bangkok, Thailand, 181 people were traveling, including 175 passengers and six crew members, and only two of them have been rescued alive so far, according to a report from the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
