The ill-fated Jeju Air flight encountered serious issues after reportedly flying through flocks of migrating birds, witnesses claim, which is thought to have led to the engine problems experienced during the flight.
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Experts suggest the pilots had little time to perform standard emergency landing procedures due to a sudden loss of power in both engines.
Two flight attendants were the only survivors among the 181 people aboard Jeju Air flight 7C2216, which was travelling from Bangkok when it crash-landed without landing gear at South Korea’s Muan International Airport on Sunday.
Investigators sifting through the charred remains of the Boeing 737-800 recovered both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.
The aircraft had struck the airport’s wall before exploding into a massive ball of flames and black smoke, leaving only its tail section intact.
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South Korea’s acting President, Choi Sang-mok, ordered an emergency safety inspection of the entire airline operating system on Monday as investigators worked to identify victims and determine the cause of South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster.