Passenger plane crashes at South Korean airport, killing 120 | Gallery News

At least 120 people were killed when a passenger plane burst into flames after skidding off the runway and crashing into a concrete fence at a South Korean airport.

Two crew members were rescued after the crash, which happened at 9:03 a.m. local time (00:03 GMT) on Sunday.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the plane – a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 – was returning from Bangkok, and its passengers included two Thai nationals.

The National Fire Agency said rescuers were rushing people off the Jeju Air plane carrying 181 passengers at the airport in the city of Muan, about 290 km (180 miles) south of Seoul.

The fire agency has deployed 32 fire engines and several helicopters to contain the fire, it said.

At least 120 people – 57 women, 54 men and nine others whose gender could not be immediately identified – died in the fire, the fire agency said.

The death toll is expected to rise further as the rest of the plane’s passengers were reported missing for about six hours after the incident – making it one of the worst aviation disasters to hit South Korea.

Footage of the accident broadcast by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding across the runway, apparently with the landing gear still closed, and crashing head-on into a concrete wall at the edge of the airport.

Other local TV stations broadcast footage showing thick plumes of black smoke from the plane engulfed in flames.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, head of the Muan Fire Station, said at a televised briefing that rescuers were continuing to search for bodies scattered in the crash.

The plane was destroyed, and only the tail assembly remained recognizable among the wreckage, he said.

Workers were examining various possibilities about what caused the crash, including whether the plane was hit by birds that caused mechanical problems, Lee said.

Senior transport ministry official Joo Jong-wan separately told reporters that government investigators had arrived at the scene to investigate the cause of the accident and fire.