South Korean plane crashed and 80 people died

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At least 80 people were killed on Sunday when a passenger plane crashed in South Korea and went down in flames, the country’s deadliest aviation disaster ever.

Jeju Airlines failed to deploy its landing gear at Mueang International Airport in the southern part of the country when it returned from Bangkok with 181 people on board.

Of the 175 passengers on the plane, 173 were South Koreans and the remaining two were Thai nationals, the Ministry of Transport announced. There were six additional crew members on board.

Local television news footage showed the plane skidding down the runway before hitting a wall and bursting into flames. The plane’s landing gear appears to have been damaged, the country’s emergency office said.

The fire was brought under control and two people were rescued from the wreckage, state-run Yonhap News reported. More than 30 trucks and several helicopters were deployed in the incident.

South KoreaActing President Choi Sang-mok visited the site on Sunday and ordered an all-out rescue effort, urging emergency workers to “do your best for rescue operations, mobilizing all available resources.”

Officials are still working to determine the exact cause of the crash, an airline spokeswoman said.

Television footage showed thick smoke billowing from the wreckage of the twin-engine Boeing 737-800 jet after the crash.

Firefighters told Yonhap that most of the passengers died. In a televised statement, officials said the plane struck birds and bad weather may have contributed to the crash.

The crash is the second fatal plane crash in recent days. Azerbaijan Airlines passenger flight Crash landed in Kazakhstan Wednesday after transiting the Caspian Sea from Grozny in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya.

US and Ukrainian officials blamed Russian anti-aircraft fire for the crash, which killed 38 of the 67 people on board. Russian officials said heavy fog and flocks of birds had prompted a diversion from Grozny, but Ukrainian fighter drones were attacking nearby towns.

Russian Vladimir Putin apologized For the “tragic incident” on Saturday to Azerbaijan, but did not comment on the accusation of Russian interference.