Relatives of the victims have demanded answers about the accident after investigators delayed releasing a report on what went wrong in the 2024 Jeju Air crash.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday (Dec 29) apologised to the families of the 179 people who died in a Jeju Air crash a year ago, vowing to reveal the truth behind the worst aircraft accident on the country’s soil.
“As president who has the responsibility to protect the lives and safety of the people, I offer my deepest apologies,” Lee said in a message released on Monday.
Relatives of the victims have demanded answers about the accident, after investigators delayed releasing a report on what went wrong on Dec 29, 2024, when the Jeju Air jet crash-landed and slammed into an embankment at the end of the runway.
It erupted in a ball of flames, killing all but two of the 181 people on board. The government-led Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board said in a preliminary report in January that both of the plane’s engines sustained bird strikes.
But questions remain about safety lapses, the design of the runway at Muan International Airport where the crash occured and what actions the pilots took in the last few minutes of the flight.
“The disaster clearly revealed the systematic problems and limitations of our society,” Lee said. “What’s needed now is not perfunctory promises or empty words but rather real change and action.”
