SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's transport ministry said on Sunday that its investigation unit secured both of the two black boxes from a crashed passenger jet that has killed at least 167 people onboard.
An official with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a televised press briefing that the retrieval of both flight data and voice recorders was completed to look into the exact cause of the accident.
The passenger plane with 175 passengers, including 173 South Koreans and two Thais, as well as six flight attendants on board crashed while attempting to land at the Muan International Airport, some 290 km southwest of the capital Seoul, at about 9:07 a.m. local time (0007 GMT) on Sunday.
The Jeju Air flight 7C2216 from Bangkok, Thailand skidded off runway and crashed into the outer wall of the runway, with its fuselage broken in half and catching fire.
Most of the 181 people aboard the plane was presumed to have been killed except two rescued crew members at the age of 33 and 25 each, according to the fire authorities. Operations were underway to recover the missing bodies.
The fire authorities estimated that the accident may have been caused by bird strike that led to landing gear failure.
After making the first landing attempt, the aircraft went around into the air due to the estimated malfunctioning of landing gear and made the second landing attempt with a belly-landing that resulted in the crash into the wall.
A TV footage showed a big plume of black smoke billowing out of the Boeing 737-800 engulfed by flames. Another footage showed an engine on the plane's right wing emitting smoke with flames before attempting to land.
The transport ministry added that it may take at least months to years to figure out the exact cause of the accident. ■
