Crash haunts Koreans

AIR DISASTER: CONCRETE STRUCTURE AT END OF RUNWAY CITED AS VIOLATION >>> Report does not state why global safety standards were not adhered to.

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Grieving mother Lee Hyo-eun returns every weekend to the airport where her daughter and 178 others died last year, desperate for the truth about South Korea’s deadliest airline disaster.

Jeju Air Flight 2216 was coming in to land at Muan International Airport from Thailand when it struck a flock of birds and was forced to make a belly landing that sent it crashing into a structure at the end of the runway.

Only two flight attendants seated in the tail section survived.

Lee vividly remembers that day. Her daughter Ye-won, a cello instructor, had just celebrated her birthday and was due to return from a holiday in Bangkok.

Lee was planning a welcome dinner when her sister called to ask if Ye-won had landed. What happened next, she said, was “unbelievable”. “She was gone when she was at her brightest, in full bloom at 24,” Lee said.

Official findings have pointed to pilot error in explaining why the 29 December, 2024 crash happened. But one year on, Lee and other relatives of the victims say they harbour deep mistrust over how the investigation has been handled.