South Korea’s acting leader orders overhaul of airline system after country’s deadliest plane crash Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s acting president Choi Sang-mok on Monday ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire airline operations system after recovery work on the Jeju air crash was completed.

179 people died in the worst air crash in South Korea.

The biggest priority now is to identify the victims, support their families and treat the two survivors, who should not be spared any resources, Choi told a disaster management meeting in Seoul.

“Even before the final results are released, we request the officials to clearly explain the investigation process of the accident and inform the families of the deceased immediately,” he said.

“As soon as the accident recovery is done, the Ministry of Transport has been requested to conduct an emergency safety inspection of the entire operational system of the aircraft to prevent a recurrence of the aircraft accident,” he said.

Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 from Thailand’s capital Bangkok, carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew members, was attempting to land at the country’s southern airport at 9:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Sunday.

Two crew members survived their injuries and are being treated.

Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather as possible factors in the crash, fire officials said. Experts say many questions remain as to why the plane was going so fast and why the landing gear did not land when it slid off the balcony and into a wall.