Haunting final image of boy, 3, killed in plane crash
A devastating photo has emerged of a child who died in the South Korean plane crash, revealing one heartbreaking detail.
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A devastating final photo has emerged of the three-year-old boy who was killed in the South Korean plane crash alongside his parents.
Kang Ko, 43, and his wife Jin Lee Seon, 37, were on board the Jeju Air plane that slammed into a concrete wall at Muan International Airport after skidding off the runway.
The couple were returning from their first overseas family holiday with their son and had shared images to Instagram of the child looking out a plane window.
The heartbreaking caption read: “My son is going abroad for the first time on a night flight, and his first passport has no stamp.”
Tragically, five of the 179 victims killed on the flight from Thailand to South Korea were children under the age of ten.
South Korean officials are battling to identify the badly damaged bodies of the victims.
Grieving families remain camped outside Muan International Airport following the disaster on Sunday as they grow desperate to see the bodies of their loved ones.
In heartbreaking scenes, one man asked police: “Can you promise that they will be put back together?”
Authorities are understood to have recovered more than 600 body parts as they deal with the aftermath of the horror crash.
The passenger plane erupted into a fireball after smashing into a wall following a crash landing.
Serious questions are now being asked over if the incident could have been avoided.
All but two of the 181 people on board were killed in the tragedy that has left both South Korea and the world reeling.
Devastated families have gathered at the airport and are demanding news of their relatives.
Police superintendent general Na Won reassured families they were making their best efforts to collect and match as many bodies as possible, reports the BBC.
Lee Jin-cheol, the Administrator of the Busan Regional Aviation Administration, said until now fingerprints had been used to ID bodies.
“But we have nearly reached the limit, and there are cases of errors occurring. From now on, we will likely have to rely on DNA testing.”
Among those killed were three generations of the same family.
A man in his 60s told Korean Yonhap news agency that his sister-in-law, daughter, her husband and their young children had died.
All those on board the flight are thought to have been Korean except for two Thai nationals -one of whom was a 22-year-old woman called Sirithon Chaue.
Tragically, her mother was waiting for her at the airport when the plane crash landed.
Chaue’s uncle told how she was going to visit her mum, who lives in South Korea, and hoped to find a job there.
He added: “She always dreamt of working there as an air hostess.
“Her mother was waiting at the airport and at first she thought the plane malfunction was minor. But then she saw the videos of what happened on social media. She was in shock and panic.”
Cries rang out through the airport as officials confirmed the names of some of those killed.
At least 141 victims of the Jeju Air plane crash have been identified so far, South Korea’s land ministry said today.
An official added: “Once we are ready to transfer the bodies following autopsies by investigation agencies, we will contact the families.”
Investigators are desperately trying to piece together what caused the harrowing crash - one of the worst aviation disasters in South Korea’s history.
Flight data and cockpit voice recorders have been recovered from the wreckage - but authorities have warned it might take months to complete a probe into the crash.
Police are also investigating an email claiming that the Jeju Air passenger plane accident was their doing.
THE SURVIVORS
The two surviving crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a briefing.
“Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest [of the plane] looks almost impossible to recognise,’ he said.
The two rescued crew members were taken to separate hospitals in South Korea city Mokpo before being transferred to Seoul. Their injuries were not life-threatening.
“When I woke up, I had already been rescued,” a 33-year-old flight attendant told doctors, according to Ju Woong who heads the Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital.
He suffered multiple fractures, while the other crew member - a 25-year-old woman - injured her ankle and head, Yonhap reported.
THE VICTIMS’ FAMILIES
Relatives of the passengers of the flight crowded the airport’s arrivals hall as families wept as the names dead passengers were announced.
The deceased were identified by their fingerprints.
The airport’s arrivals boards displayed the names, dates of birth and nationalities of the victims.
One woman was carried away on a stretcher, apparently having fainted from shock.
“I had a son on board that plane … He has yet to be identified,” an elderly man waiting in the airport lounge told AFP.
The death toll includes at least 82 men and 84 women, according to the National Fire Agency.
The youngest passenger was a three-year-old boy and the oldest was a 78-year-old.
Five of the dead were children under the age of 10, authorities said.
A grieving woman, 33, told Yonhap, “My sister was on that plane. She’s had so many hardships and gone travelling because her situation was only just beginning to improve.”
“My younger sister went to heaven today,” a 65-year-old woman, who gave only her surname Jo, told AFP.
The family member of three of the victims of the South Korea plane crash said his ‘heart aches so much’ after all passengers on board were confirmed dead.
Maeng Gi-su, 78, told the BBC his nephew and his nephew’s two sons were on the flight.
“I can’t believe the entire family has just disappeared. My heart aches so much”, he said.
HEARTBREAKING LAST WORDS
Moments before Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from Bangkok with 181 people on board slammed into a concrete barrier and burst into flames, a passenger texted a relative to say a bird was stuck in the wing of the plane.
News1 agency reported the person’s final message was, “Should I say my last words?”
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
Eyewitness Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was staying at a rental house near the airport, told Yonhap news agency he saw a spark on the plane’s right wing before the crash.
“I was telling my family there was a problem with the plane when I heard a loud explosion,” Yoo said.
Another witness, named Cho, was out walking near the airport when he saw a flash of light as the plane descended.
“Then there was a loud bang followed by smoke in the air, and then I heard a series of explosions,” he said.
WORLD LEADERS REACT
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a message posted on X that he was “deeply saddened by the news of the plane crash overnight in South Korea.”
“My heartfelt condolences go out to the people of South Korea and Thailand, and all those that have lost loved ones,” he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz posted on X: “We have received terrible news of a plane crash in South Korea with many fatalities. Our condolences go out to the families of those killed in the crash and we wish the injured a speedy recovery.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “On behalf of the Ukrainian people and myself, I extend heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, the people of Korea, and Acting President Choi Sang-mok. We share your sorrow and stand with the Korean people in this time of grief.”
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Originally published as Haunting final image of boy, 3, killed in plane crash
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