A simulation shows all 179 victims of a 2024 South Korean plane crash would have survived if not for a concrete structure at the runway’s end.
SEOUL: A government-commissioned simulation has concluded that all 179 people killed in a South Korean plane crash in December 2024 would have survived if not for a concrete structure at the end of the runway.
Opposition lawmaker Kim Eun-hye released the findings on Thursday.
The simulation report stated the aircraft would likely have breached a perimeter fence with only minor injuries if the guidance facility had been made of breakable materials.
“The impact sustained by the aircraft during its ground slide was not of a magnitude sufficient to cause serious injuries,” the report said.
It found the plane would have slid for approximately 770 metres before stopping on a clear runway.
Jeju Air Flight 2216 was attempting a belly landing at Muan International Airport after striking a flock of birds.
Bystander footage showed it colliding with a concrete localiser housing a radio antenna, bursting into a fireball.
International aviation safety guidelines state such navigation facilities should be frangible.
The presence of the concrete structure sparked outrage and protests from victims’ families.
Lee Hyo-eun, whose 24-year-old daughter was killed, said the findings confirmed the families’ “long-held suspicions”.
She told AFP the result deepens their grief, “knowing that those lives could have been saved.”
The damaged localisers were still standing when AFP visited the site in December.
Fragments of concrete slabs lay strewn across a nearby field.
