All But Two Feared Dead After South Korea Plane Crashes With 181 Aboard

A Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea crashed on arrival Sunday, smashing into a barrier and bursting into flames, leaving all but two feared dead.

A bird strike and adverse weather conditions were cited by authorities as likely causes of the crash that flung passengers out of the plane and left it almost completely destroyed, according to fire officials.

Video showed the Jeju Air plane from Bangkok landing on its belly at Muan International Airport, skidding off the runway as smoke streamed out from the engines, before crashing into a wall and exploding in flames.

Passengers were ejected from the aircraft after it collided with the wall, leaving little chance of survival, a local fire official told families at a briefing, according to a statement released by the fire brigade.

The plane is almost completely destroyed, and identifying the deceased is proving difficult. The process is taking time as we locate and recover the remains, he was quoted as saying.