Video allegedly shows final moments before the Jeju Air crash in South Korea
New footage of what is believed to be the moment before South Korea’s horrific aviation disaster has surfaced online.
A YouTube video, believed to show the final moments before the disastrous Jeju Air crash that killed 179 people on December 29, has circulated widely online according to local media.
Titled “The Pilot’s Last Moments,” the YouTube video was posted on January 2 and allegedly captures the hand of the pilot reaching towards the cockpit’s overhead panel, just seconds before it made a collision with a concrete embankment.
The footage is censored to exclude the moment of impact.
Shared widely on community forums, comments sympathised with the pilot’s “immense fear and desperation,” The Korea Times reports.
“He managed a difficult belly landing perfectly, only to face a sudden concrete wall. Imagining his thoughts in those final moments brings tears to my eyes,” one user reportedly wrote.
“Seeing the wall approach while the plane continued forward … the fear and helplessness must have been unimaginable” another wrote.
South Korean investigators said on Saturday that they were close to finalising the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder from the fatal plane crash.
The recording may hold clues to the final moments of Jeju Air flight 2216, which was carrying 181 passengers and crew from Thailand to South Korea on Sunday when it bellylanded before slamming into a concrete barrier at the end of an airport runway.
The exact cause of the Boeing 737-800 crash is still unknown, but investigators have pointed to a bird strike, faulty landing gear and the runway barrier as possible issues.
Authorities this week carried out search and seizure operations at Muan airport where the flight crashed, a regional aviation office in the southwestern city, and Jeju Air’s office in the capital Seoul, police said.
Jeju Air’s chief executive Kim E-bae has been banned from leaving the country as the investigation continues, police also said.
The pilot warned of a bird strike before pulling out of a first landing, and then crashing on a second attempt when the landing gear did not emerge.
Authorities have started lifting the wreckage of the jet, and returning some of the identified victims’ bodies and personal belongings recovered from the crash site to grieving families.
The plane was largely carrying South Korean holiday-makers back from year-end trips to Bangkok, except for two Thai passengers.
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