What caused South Korea plane crash? Shock vid shows ‘bird strike’ & survivor heard ‘explosion’ before deadly landing
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MYSTERY surrounds the cause of a South Korean plane crash that has left 179 people presumed dead. Witnesses say they heard engine "explosions" and saw sparks fly just minutes before the disaster that saw the Boeing skid off the runway and explode. A shocking video has now emerged showing the flight hit a flock of birds and a white plume emerge from the right jet just moments before the disaster.
![[A white plume of smoke can be seen coming from the jet's right engine]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ccec8fbc-5905-4f96-9e71-7b7234932f74_4f8468.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The Jeju Air plane then tried to land on its belly - hitting the tarmac without wheels and skidding off the runway into an embankment. Lee Jeong-hyun, the head of the Muan Fire Department, briefed Korean media following the tragedy and “estimated to be the occurrence of a bird strike or bad weather.”.
![[Korean TV released footage of the plane moments before disaster]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/6f88f3c4-a2dd-449e-8a42-3a2b8e0da14e.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
But there is no clear reason why a bird strike would have caused the plane's landing gear to fail. Footage of the moment of the disaster appeared to show a clear, blue sky. A timeline of the moments before the disaster has now started to emerge. Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 from Bangkok was carrying 175 passengers and six crew from Bangkok to Muan International Airport.
![[The jet was left a burning wreck after the crash]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-yonhap-via-reuters-image-960285666.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
At 8.57am local time - six minutes before the flight crash landed - the pilot received a bird strike warning from the airport. Then one minute later, the pilot made a Mayday distress call. The plane tried to land on runway one at 9am, but it couldn't do so.
Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the tower then gave the pilot permission to try again on a different runway. At 9.03am, the plane tried to land on runway 19 with the pilot ultimately deciding to complete a no-wheels landing.
![[The jet hit the ground without the landing gear dropping]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/173-south-koreans-two-thais-960293244.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
