Seoul. A passenger plane burst into flames Sunday after it skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport and slammed into a concrete fence when its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy, killing at least 85 people, officials said, in one of the country's worst aviation disasters.

The National Fire Agency said rescuers raced to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people at the airport in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Seoul. The transport ministry said the incident happened at 9:03 a.m. local time.

At least 85 people — 46 women and 39 men — died in the fire, the agency said. Emergency workers pulled out two people, both crew members, and local health officials said they remain conscious. It said it deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire.

Footage of the crash aired by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding across the airstrip, apparently with its landing gear still closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the facility. Other local TV stations aired footage showing thick pillows of black smoke billowing from the plane engulfed with flame.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, told a televised briefing that rescue workers are continuing to search for bodies scattered by the crash impact. The plane was completely destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognizable among the wreckage, he said.

Lee said workers were looking into various possibilities about what caused the crash, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds which caused mechanical problems. Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan separately told reporters that government investigators arrived at the site to investigate the cause of the crash and fire.

Emergency officials in Muan said the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned. The transport ministry said the plane was returning from Bangkok and its passengers include two Thai nationals.

Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed deep condolences to the families of those affected by the accident through a post on social platform X. Paetongtarn said she had ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide assistance immediately.

It’s one of the deadliest disasters in South Korea’s aviation history. The last time South Korea suffered a large-scale air disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board.

The incident came as South Korea is embroiled in a huge political crisis triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s stunning imposition of martial law and ensuing impeachment. Last Friday, South Korean lawmakers impeached acting President Han Duck-soo and suspended his duties, making Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok take over.

Choi ordered officials to employ all available resources to rescue the passengers and crew before he headed to Muan. Yoon’s office said his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, would preside over an emergency meeting with senior presidential staff later on Sunday to discuss the crash.

Add as a preferred source on Google +