Muan, South Korea — Muan International Airport looks like any other airport during the holidays. Its parking lot is filled with hundreds of cars, while the gates to the departure and arrival exits are bustling with activity.
However, it is not at all like any other airport and has no holiday spirit. It has been two days since the airport suspended all its operations following Sunday’s deadly passenger plane crash, in which only two of the 181 passengers and crew survived. Jeju Air Flight 2216 from Thailand to South Korea crashed into a concrete barrier and was immediately engulfed in a fireball after making an emergency belly landing on the Muan Airport runway.
Inside the airport, in the country’s South Jeolla province, is a sea of people dressed in black, reminiscent of a South Korean funeral. Families and friends huddled around each other, amid tears and wails of grief.
They are waiting to receive the remains of their loved ones, to be united with them for the last time.
Ki Hwe-man, 37, traveled more than five hours from the northern city of Paju after hearing that his uncle was one of the victims of the plane crash. He remembers his late uncle as a man of faith and a friend.
“When I was young, I always kicked a soccer ball, and my uncle often came to our house to see us. He was the only adult during our family gatherings who came to play with the children,” Ki recalls. “He was always bright and an exemplary adult. He is someone I want to become one day.”
While the immediate family members of the victims remained at the airport in makeshift tents and benches since Sunday, a large number of relatives and close friends from all over the country began gathering at the airport the next day to mourn with them.
Of the 179 killed, five victims have not yet been identified.
Many of the passengers were on holiday in Thailand, including 41 members of a package deal to Bangkok sold by a local travel agency. The oldest person was 78, and the youngest was three years old.
“Just a day before my sister left for her trip, she visited our mother’s home in Gwangju to give her Christmas gifts,” recalls a middle-aged man who lost his sister and brother-in-law in a crash in the fresh air outside the airport. “After making her try on new clothes, she told our mother she’d be back soon.”
He recalls how his sister, who was younger than him, was the one who brought the family together after their father passed away last year.
“She was the one who suggested our trip to Yeosu last summer and to Daecheon in the fall. She took care of our sick father in his last days. We took courage from her,” he says, before walking away, overcome with emotion.
Seven days of mourning were declared throughout the country, and memorials were erected in cities across the country. Less than 10 km (6.2 miles) from Muan Airport, a memorial altar has been set up in the city’s sports complex to honor the victims.
Jeon Myung-hwan came from Seoul to say goodbye to his best friend for the last time.
“My friend and his wife were on a retirement trip and we even spoke on the phone last week. We talked about going on a trip by ourselves soon,” Jeon tells Al Jazeera in a shaky voice.
Having met in high school in their hometown of Gwangyang, just a few hours east of Muan, the two friends would meet at least once a year along with their other friends.
“We even got married around the same time, so our families often met and went on trips together. He was gentle and quiet, but he always looked out for others like a big brother,” Jeon recalls.
Because his friend’s wife has yet to be identified by a search at the airport, her name is not on the funeral altar with the names of the other victims.
“It’s sad to see that my friend is not next to his wife at the altar,” says Jeon. “I hope he is at peace in heaven next to his wife.”
On Tuesday, after two full days of recovery efforts, families were able to begin funerals after the first set of bodies were returned. However, families at the airport expressed their frustration with the authorities’ slow response and expressed concern about gaps in their leadership.
Park Han-shin, a representative of the family, even told reporters gathered at Muan Airport that he “would no longer fully trust the authorities” after he claimed they were too busy shifting blame among themselves.
South Korea is currently run by her the third president in just one month. President Yoon Suk Yeol was relieved of his presidential duties after declaring a state of emergency at the beginning of the month. Prime Minister Han Duk-soo, who was next in line, was ousted from the presidential role after just two weeks, leaving Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok to juggle national disasters, a polarized political arena and historic economic downturns as the current acting president.
Choi’s order for an urgent safety inspection of all air transportation in the country includes a special inspection of all 101 Boeing 737-800 planes — the model involved in Sunday’s crash — operated by South Korean airlines, focusing on maintenance records of key components.
While a bird strike Early mentioned as a key factor in the accident, experts have questioned the extent to which this theory is the sole cause of the accident. Authorities collected the cockpit voice log and flight data for further analysis.
During the investigation, South Korean officials will have to consider issues such as the plane’s speed during landing, its flaps not open, the function of the thrust reverser and the landing gear not activated. Locals in Muan reported hearing explosions from the plane before it made an emergency landing.
Consequently, much of the public’s attention has focused on Jeju Air.
Bosses at the low-cost carrier took a deep bow and issued a public apology at a press conference hours after the plane went down on Sunday. Named after Jeju Island, this airline is South Korea’s first and largest low-cost airline. Among the various concerns is the excessive use of aircraft during the peak year-end holiday travel season. The Jeju plane that crashed on Sunday was found to have had 13 flights in the 48 hours before the incident, according to Yonhap news agency, citing industry sources.
Local media have also highlighted online posts in the past believed to be written by former and current Jeju Air employees. A post on the anonymous website Blind, a post from last year claimed that the company’s efforts to “save maintenance costs” had caused “four cases of engine failure in flight.” Another post, likely written by a company mechanic, claimed that “fellow mechanics were working overnight on top of 13 to 14 hour shifts, getting no time off except for lunch.”
About 68,000 Jeju Air reservations were canceled within 24 hours of Sunday’s crash.
There were also questions about concrete embankment at the end of the Muan Airport runway where the plane eventually crashed. With the localizer, an instrument for guiding incoming aircraft, the embankment and the end of the runway were at least 250 meters (820 feet) apart, in accordance with safety regulations, according to Muan airport authorities.
At the memorial altar in Muan, Song In-young, 61, said he had come from the neighboring city of Naju to pay his respects to the victims.
“We have no blood ties [among the victims]but I consider everyone who was on that flight my family. Especially for people like me who lived through the brutal political oppression of the 1980s, we feel a deep connection to the cities in this part of the region,” he says, referring to the Gwangju massacre, which is known to have claimed hundreds of lives. by the army, which was in power at the time.
“I believe in the afterlife, so I wish all the victims peace on their next journeys,” says Song. “More importantly, I hope all the remaining family members find peace as soon as possible.”
