Plane Crash In S Korea Kills 179

Seoul: A passenger plane skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport Sunday, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people on board died in one of the country's worst aviation disasters.

The Jeju Air plane crashed while landing in the town of Muan, about 290 kilometres south of Seoul. The Transport Ministry said the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that had arrived from Bangkok and that the crash happened at 9:03 am. A total of 179 people — 85 women, 84 men and 10 others whose genders weren't immediately identifiable — died in the fire, the South Korean fire agency said.

Emergency workers pulled two people, both crew members, to safety. Health officials said they are conscious and not in life-threatening condition. Among the 177 bodies so far found, officials have so far identified 88 of them, the fire agency said.

The passengers were predominantly South Korean, as well as two Thai nationals.