SEOUL, South Korea — The black boxes from the Jeju Air jet that crashed in South Korea on Sunday are the focus as a joint team of U.S. and South Korean investigators work to determine the cause of 2024’s deadliest aviation disaster.
Data from the two black boxes, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, will be useful in determining what happened in the minutes before the crash. The Boeing 737-800 crashed at Muan International Airport in the southwest of the country, killing 179 of the 181 passengers and crew on board.
Officials said Wednesday they had formally completed identifying all 179 victims overnight and that 11 bodies had been returned to their families, allowing funerals to begin.
“Today is New Year’s Day, a day we are supposed to spend with family, which makes the sadness even greater,” South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, said in a New Year’s address.
“I offer my prayers for the souls of the victims and once again extend my deepest condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loved ones.”
Choi became acting president on Friday, two days before the crash, replacing his predecessor Han Duck-soo, who was ousted by lawmakers after just two weeks in office. South Korea has been in political turmoil since a failed attempt to declare martial law last month by President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is awaiting trial after being impeached.
Choi said “a comprehensive analysis of the plane, the black box data and other factors will eventually reveal the cause” of the crash, which officials said could have been caused by a bird strike, a problem with the landing gear deployment or problems with other control systems.
South Korea’s transport ministry said Wednesday that South Korean investigators were converting data extracted from the cockpit voice recorder into audio files, a process that could take about two days.
The ministry said that while rescuers quickly recovered the black boxes, the flight data recorder was damaged and investigators were unable to retrieve its data locally. It will then be sent to the United States for analysis.
The U.S. team in South Korea includes representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board as well as Boeing, the plane’s manufacturer, and CFM International, the engine maker.
On Wednesday, bereaved families visited the crash site and held a memorial service.
Jeju Air CEO Kim Ee-bae said Tuesday that the airline will cover funeral costs and is preparing “emergency financial assistance as a gesture of solidarity and sympathy.”
Kim also said the airline will reduce its winter operations by up to 15 percent through March as it prioritizes “operational safety.”
“We will strengthen pre- and post-flight inspections, weather monitoring and pay close attention to the emotional well-being of flight personnel,” he added.
Jeju Air Flight 2216 took off from Bangkok shortly after 2 a.m. local time on Sunday (2 p.m. ET on Saturday), carrying 181 people, including six crew members.
While trying to land in Muan without landing gear, the plane caught fire after hitting an embankment at the end of the runway. All but two crew members, both of whom were in the back of the plane, were killed.
It is still unclear why the pilots failed to lower the landing gear.
Stella Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea, and Mithil Agarwal from Hong Kong.
