South Korea Jeju Air jet black boxes stopped recording 4 minutes before crash, ministry says (updated)

JejuAir Co

11/01/2025 05:27

(Adds details, background in paragraphs 2-6)
       SEOUL, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The flight data and cockpit
voice recorders on the Jeju Air jet that crashed on Dec. 29
stopped recording about four minutes before the airliner hit a
concrete structure at South Korea's Muan airport, the transport
ministry said on Saturday. 
    Authorities investigating the disaster that killed 179
people, the worst on South Korean soil, plan to analyse what
caused the "black boxes" to stop recording, the ministry said in
a statement.
    The voice recorder was initially analysed in South Korea,
and, when data was found to be missing, then sent to a U.S.
National Transportation Safety Board laboratory, the ministry
said.
    The damaged flight data recorder was taken to the United
States for analysis in cooperation with the U.S. safety
regulator, the ministry has said.
    Jeju Air 7C2216, which departed the Thai capital Bangkok for
Muan in southwestern South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the
regional airport's runway, exploding into flames after hitting
an embankment.
    The pilots told air traffic control the aircraft had
suffered a bird strike and declared emergency about four minutes
before it crashed into the embankment exploding in flames. Two
injured crew members, sitting in the tail section, were rescued.
    

 (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Jack Kim; Editing by William
Mallard)
 ((jack.kim@thomsonreuters.com; +822 6936 1455;))