South Korea police search Jeju Air and airport operator over fatal plane crash
South Korean police said they had raided Jeju Air and the operator of Muan International Airport as part of their investigation into Sunday’s crash that killed 179 people.
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean police said Thursday they had raided Jeju Air and the operator of Muan International Airport as part of their investigation into Sunday’s crash that killed 179 people in the worst aviation disaster on the country’s soil.
Jeju Air 7C2216, which departed the Thai capital of Bangkok for Muan in southwestern South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport’s runway, exploding into flames after hitting an embankment.
Two crew members, who were sitting in the tail end of the Boeing 737-800, were pulled out alive by rescuers but injured.
The conversion of data from the cockpit voice recorder to audio files, which could provide critical information on the final minutes of the flight, was completed on Thursday, Joo Jong-wan, the deputy transport minister for civil aviation, told a media briefing.
Police investigators were searching the offices of the airport operator and the transportation ministry aviation authority in the southwestern county of Muan, as the well as the office of Jeju Air in Seoul, the South Jeolla provincial police said in a statement.
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