Fowl feathers, blood present in each engines of crashed jet in South Korea, supply says

By Hyunjoo Jin

Seoul (Reuters) -Investigators discovered chicken feathers and blood in each engines of the Jeju Air jet that crashed in South Korea final month, killing 179 individuals, an individual accustomed to the probe advised Reuters on Friday.

The Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737-800 aircraft, which departed from the Thai capital Bangkok for Muan county in southwestern South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport’s runway, bursting into flames after hitting an embankment.

Solely two crew members on the tail finish of the aircraft survived the worst aviation catastrophe on South Korean soil.

About 4 minutes earlier than the deadly crash, one of many pilots reported a chicken strike and declared an emergency earlier than initiating a go-around and making an attempt to land on the alternative finish of the runway, in accordance with South Korean authorities.

Two minutes earlier than the pilot declared the Mayday emergency name, air site visitors management had urged warning because of “chicken exercise” within the space.

Investigators this month stated feathers had been discovered on one of many engines recovered from the crash scene, including that video footage confirmed there was a chicken strike on an engine.

South Korea’s transport ministry declined to touch upon whether or not feathers and blood had been present in each engines.

The aircraft’s two black containers – key to discovering out the reason for final month’s crash on the jet – stopped recording about 4 minutes earlier than the accident, posing a problem to the continuing investigation.

Sim Jai-dong, a former transport ministry accident investigator, stated on Sunday the lacking information was stunning and urged all energy, together with backup, might have been minimize, which is uncommon.

Fowl strikes that influence each engines are additionally uncommon occurrences in aviation globally, although there have been profitable instances of pilots touchdown the aircraft with out fatalities in such conditions together with the “Miracle on the Hudson (NYSE:HUD)” river touchdown within the U.S. in 2009 and a cornfield touchdown in Russia in 2019.