Mumbai: Tragic, heart-wrenching stories are emerging in the aftermath of one of South Korea’s worst aviation disasters.
“A bird struck the wing, should I make a will?”
This was the last message sent by one of the passengers on board the Jeju Air flight that crashed at Muan International Airport on Sunday morning.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft carrying 181 passengers and crew members, which had flown from Bangkok, veered off the runway at Muan with its landing gear closed, causing it to crash into a concrete fence.
A man waiting at the airport for a family member who was due to arrive from Bangkok, revealed spine-chilling final messages he had received just before the crash, News1 reported.
“A bird struck the wing, and we can’t land,” was the first message the passenger sent to his relative via instant messaging platform KakaoTalk.
The concerned man asked how long the flight was in that situation. The passenger responded – “Just now. Should I make a will?”
That was the last time the man at the airport heard from his acquaintance.
All attempts by him and dozens of others to contact the passengers on board the flight were unsuccessful thereafter.
Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun informed that a man and a woman – both crew members — were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane.
The other 179 people on board were not so lucky.
The area around the accident site was filled with strong smell of aviation fuel and blood, Reuters reported quoting witnesses. Rescue personnel wearing protective suits and masks searched the area, while soldiers scanned the surrounding bushes.
