Authorities have confirmed that 176 persons have been confirmed dead in the Jeju Air Air flight 7C 2216 that crash landed at the Muan International Airport in South Korea on Sunday.
The flight had 181 persons on board comprising of 175 passengers and six crew members.
According to fire service officials, among these 176 people, 82 are male and 83 are female, while the gender of 11 victims has not yet been confirmed.
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The crash is the deadliest in South Korea since the 1997 Korea Air disaster that killed 228 people.
The plane which had earlier taken off in from Bangkok Thailand had no prior issues according to the CEO of Jeju Air, Kim E-bae said that the aircraft did not show any sign of problems prior to the accident.
However, footage of the aircraft shortly before it crashed and burst into ball of fire shows that the landing gears did not deploy fueling speculations of catastrophic mechanical failure,
Airport authorities say that the air traffic controller had advised the pilot to abort initial landing at the airports runway 01 to avoid possible bird strike and alternative use an opposite runway 019. It was also confirmed that the pilot made a May Day call one minute before the crash.
Footage of the doomed plane shortly before it crashed, no sign the landing gear was deployed
Rescuers have secured the twin flight data recorders as preliminary investigation into the crash has already started in full gear.
South Koreas Acting President, Choi Sang-mok, has already visited the scene of the accident and immediately instructed that “all available” resources should be deployed for rescue operations and to attend to the family of the victims.
Also all flights in and out of the Muan International Airport have been temporarily suspended.
Earlier, the management of Jeju Airlines had in a press conference apologized for the crash. Jeju Air is the largest budget airline in South Korea. The airline before this accident had sterling safety records. The doomed aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 is among the most reliable work horse in the aviation industry.