The victims of South Korea’s devastating Jeju Air crash, one of the country’s worst aviation disasters, have begun to be identified, painting a heartbreaking picture of lives lost.
Among them was a three-year-old boy, the youngest to perish, who had been returning home with his parents from his first holiday abroad.
A Family’s Final Moments
The Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 skidded off the runway at Muan International Airport, 180 miles south of Seoul, on Sunday morning. After slamming into a concrete barrier, the plane burst into flames when its landing gear failed to deploy. Of the 181 passengers and crew aboard, only two cabin crew members survived.
Five of the victims were children under 10, including the three-year-old boy. Photos shared by his father, Kang Ko, on Instagram showed the toddler excitedly looking out of a plane window during their trip to Thailand and proudly holding his first passport.
In a poignant caption, Kang wrote: “My son is going abroad for the first time on a night flight, and his first passport has no stamp!” Tragically, the family was returning to South Korea when the disaster struck.
Tributes Pour In for the Victims
The crash has plunged South Korea into mourning. Tributes flooded social media, including one from sports broadcaster Jung Woo-young, who remembered Kang as a beloved PR professional for the Kia Tigers baseball team. “He never returned. Not even his family,” Woo-young wrote.
Among the victims was 22-year-old Sirithon Chaue from Thailand, who had been flying to visit her mother in South Korea with hopes of becoming a flight attendant. Her uncle revealed, “Her mother was waiting at the airport… she was in shock and panic after seeing videos of the crash.”
Grieving Families Seek Answers
Families of the victims have voiced frustration with the recovery process, as only five intact bodies have been released so far. Soldiers and rescue workers are meticulously sorting through over 600 body fragments, trying to reconstruct remains for grieving relatives.
A father who lost five family members, including his daughter and her children, questioned why the pilot couldn’t have landed in a nearby field instead of attempting a runway landing. “She was almost home. She thought she was coming home,” he said in anguish.
Nation in Mourning
South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, expressed condolences and vowed to support the affected families. Emergency tents have been set up at the airport for relatives awaiting news. Authorities have confirmed 141 of the 179 fatalities, with more identifications expected in the coming days.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport stated that all remains are being housed in a temporary mortuary and will be returned to families after autopsies and investigations are complete.
This tragedy, marking one of the darkest moments in South Korea’s aviation history, has left families and a nation grappling with immense grief as they seek answers and closure.
