GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
The accident occurred with South Korea in the throes of a political crisis that began when then-president Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Dec 3, days before being impeached.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok, on his third day in office, convened an emergency meeting with cabinet members Sunday and visited the crash scene.
AVIATION SAFETY RECORD
South Korea’s aviation industry has a solid safety record and the crash was the first fatal accident for Jeju Air.
On Aug 12, 2007, strong winds caused a Jeju Air-operated Bombardier Q400 carrying 74 passengers to veer off the runway at another southern airport, Busan-Gimhae. A dozen people were injured.
Before Sunday, the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil took place on Apr 15, 2002, when an Air China Boeing 767 travelling from Beijing hit a hill near Busan-Gimhae, resulting in 129 deaths.
The most recent fatal crash of a South Korean airline happened in San Francisco, California on Jul 6, 2013. Asiana Airlines’ Boeing 777 aircraft missed its landing, leaving three dead and 182 hurt.
The deadliest disaster to hit a South Korean airline goes back to Sep 1, 1983, when a Soviet fighter jet shot down a Boeing 747, which Moscow claimed was mistaken for a spy plane.
All 23 crew and 246 passengers aboard the Korean Air flight – a New York-to-Seoul flight via Anchorage, Alaska – were killed.
Source: CNA
