Dozens died when a passenger plane crashed while landing at a South Korean airport

A passenger plane burst into flames early Sunday after it skidded off the runway at a South Korean airport and crashed into a concrete barrier when its front landing gear failed to descend, killing at least 85 people, officials said, in one of the country's deadliest accidents. aviation disasters.

The National Fire Agency said rescuers rushed to pull people from the Jeju Air flight carrying 181 people at the airport in the city of Muan, about 180 kilometers south of Seoul. The Department of Transportation identified the plane as a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 and said the accident occurred at 9:03 a.m. local time. The flight was returning from Bangkok.

At least 85 people – 46 women and 39 men – died in the fire, the agency said. Emergency workers evacuated two people, both workers, and local health officials said they were still aware. It said it deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire.

South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that there were believed to be 173 South Korean passengers on board the plane along with two Thais. There were also six crew members on board, Reuters reported.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, told a television news conference that rescuers were continuing to search for bodies scattered in the crash. The plane was completely destroyed, leaving only the unidentified tail among the wreckage, he said.

Footage of the accident broadcast by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding off the runway, its landing gear apparently still closed, and crashing head-on into a concrete wall at the edge of the facility. Local TV stations broadcast images showing thick pillows of black smoke billowing from the plane engulfed in flames.

Crews were looking into what caused the crash, including whether the plane was struck by birds that caused mechanical problems, Lee said. Transport Ministry chief executive Joo Jong-wan told reporters separately that government investigators had arrived at the site to investigate the cause of the accident and fire.

The prime minister of Thailand, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, expressed his condolences to the families of those affected by the accident on social media. Paetongtarn said he has ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide assistance immediately.

South Korean Vice President Choi Sang-mok ordered a full rescue, Reuters reported. Choi He was acting president on Fridayreplaced the previous acting president, Han Duck-soo, following Han's impeachment. All this comes after the government problems caused by the Dec. 3 declaration of martial law from former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was also impeached.

This is one of the worst disasters in South Korean aviation history. The last time South Korea suffered a major aviation disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people.

This comes after 38 people died and 29 others were injured Azerbaijan Airlines flight from Azerbaijan's capital Baku to the Russian city of Grozny crashes in Aktau, Kazakhstan on Christmas Day. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an apology due to the crash, and the Kremlin said in a statement that air defense systems were firing near Grozny airport as the plane “repeatedly” tried to land there. However, it did not clearly state that one of these hit the plane.

A US official told CBS News there were early signs a Russian anti-aircraft system may have shot down a plane in an area where Ukrainian and Russian forces have traded drone and rocket fire for months.