By Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL (Reuters) – The crash of Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 on Sunday is the deadliest ever on South Korean soil and the worst involving a South Korean airline since a 1997 Korean Air Lines crash in Guam that killed more than 200 people died.
The crash of the Boeing (NYSE:) 737-800 at Muan International Airport is the first fatal accident involving the country’s largest budget airline, which was founded in 2005. Jeju Air is only behind Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines in terms of numbers. of passengers in South Korea.
The previous deadliest aircraft accident in South Korea occurred in 2002, when an Air China (OTC:) Boeing 767-200 crashed into a hill near South Korea’s southeastern port city of Busan, killing 129 people and injuring 37 were injured.
Here are some of the other major plane crashes in South Korea or involving South Korean airlines:
– In September 1983, Korea Airlines Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet jet as it entered Soviet airspace over Sakhalin Island, killing all 269 people on board.
– In July 1993, a Boeing 737-500 was operated by Asiana airline (KS:) landed in bad weather a few kilometers short of the runway at South Korea’s Mokpo Airport. More than 60 people died.
– In August 1997, Korean Air Flight 801, a Korean Air Boeing 747-3B5B (747-300), plowed into a hill near Guam International Airport, killing 228 of the 254 people on board.
– In July 2011, an Asiana Boeing 747-400 cargo plane crashed into the sea off the South Korean island of Jeju. It was later determined that this was caused by a fire in the cargo hold. Both pilots were killed.
– In July 2013, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco airport when the tail of the Boeing 777 jetliner struck a seawall just short of the runway, sending the plane into a spin, leading to the deaths of three teenage passengers from China and injuries to more than 180 passengers of the approximately 300 people on board.
