Evidence shows Jeju Air pilots shut off less-damaged engine before crash
HL: Evidence shows Jeju Air pilots shut off less-damaged engine before crash
Reuters
SEOUL: The South Korea-led investigation into Jeju Air's fatal plane crash in December has "clear evidence" that pilots shut off the less-damaged engine after a bird strike, a source with knowledge of the probe said on Monday.
The source said the evidence, including the cockpit voice recorder, computer data and a physical engine switch found in the wreckage, showed pilots shut off the left engine instead of the right engine when taking emergency steps after a bird strike just before the plane was scheduled to land.
"The investigation team has clear evidence and backup data, so its finding will not change," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity because investigators have not released an official report including this evidence.
A government source said examinations of the plane's recovered engines found no defects had been present before the bird strike and crash.
The Dec 29 crash of the Boeing 737-800 jet at Muan Airport killed all but two of the 181 passengers and crew members on board and was the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil.
Investigators told victims' family members at a briefing on Saturday that the right engine had been more severely damaged by a bird strike than the left, and there was circumstantial evidence that pilots had turned off the less-damaged left engine, according to a third source who was at the briefing.
South Korean media outlets, including MBN and Yonhap, reported that information on Saturday and Sunday.
South Korea's Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB), which is leading the investigation, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Boeing referred questions about the crash to ARAIB. Engine maker CFM International, a joint venture between GE and France's Safran, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jeju Air said it was actively cooperating with the ARAIB's investigation and awaiting the official announcement of the results.
Most air crashes are caused by multiple factors, and under international rules, a final report is expected within a year of an accident.
A preliminary report released in January said duck remains were found in both engines of the Jeju Air plane after the flight from Bangkok crashed at Muan Airport, but did not give details about the extent of remains or damage found in each engine.
South Korea's investigation body on Saturday cancelled a planned release to media of an update on what is known so far about the engines.
Families of the crash victims were briefed on the report ahead of its planned release but objected to its publication, saying it appeared to apportion blame to the pilots without exploring other contributing factors, lawyers representing the families said.
The Jeju Air flight overshot Muan Airport's runway as it made an emergency belly landing and crashed into an embankment containing navigation equipment, leading to a fire and partial explosion.
Representatives of victims' families and the Jeju Air pilots' union said over the weekend that the investigation needs to also focus on the embankment, which aviation experts have said likely contributed to the high death toll.
The Jeju Air pilots' union said the ARAIB was "misleading the public" by suggesting there was no problem with the left engine, given traces of bird remains were found in both engines.
The union accused the ARAIB of trying to make pilots "scapegoats" by failing to provide scientific and technological grounds that the plane could have landed safely with only the left engine turned on.
Air accidents are complex incidents that occur due to several contributing factors, and investigators have not produced evidence so far to support the implication that the accident was a result of pilot error, the union said.
Investigators are so far "silent about organisational responsibility", the union said.
A body representing bereaved families said in a statement there were some phrases related to the cause of the accident in the planned press release that could be interpreted as if a final conclusion had been reached, and all facts surrounding the incident must be clarified.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
9 hours ago
- The Star
Trump order imposes additional 25% tariff on goods from India
FILE PHOTO - A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo
The Star
18 hours ago
- The Star
Hiroshima marks 80 years as US-Russia nuclear tensions rise
HIROSHIMA: Japan marked 80 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Wednesday (Aug 6) with a ceremony reminding the world of the horrors unleashed, as sabre-rattling between the United States and Russia keeps the nuclear "Doomsday Clock" close to midnight. A silent prayer was held at 8:15am (2315 GMT), the moment when US aircraft Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy" over the western Japanese city on Aug 6, 1945. On a sweltering morning, hundreds of black-clad officials, students and survivors laid flowers at the memorial cenotaph, with the ruins of a domed building in the background, a stark reminder of the horrors that unfolded. In a speech, Hiroshima mayor Kazumi Matsui warned of "an accelerating trend toward military buildup around the world", against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the chaos in the Middle East. "These developments flagrantly disregard the lessons the international community should have learned from the tragedies of history," he said. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said it was Japan's mission "to take the lead... toward a world without nuclear weapons". People praying in front of the cenotaph for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing, at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on Aug 6, 2025. - Reuters The final death toll of the Hiroshima attack would hit around 140,000 people, killed not just by the colossal blast and the ball of fire, but also later by the radiation. Three days after "Little Boy", on Aug 9, another atomic bomb killed 74,000 people in Nagasaki. Imperial Japan surrendered on Aug 15, bringing an end to World War II. Today, Hiroshima is a thriving metropolis of 1.2 million but the attacks live on in the memories of many. On the eve of the ceremony, people began lining up to pay their respects to the victims in front of the cenotaph. Before dawn on Wednesday, families who lost loved ones in the attack also came to pray. Yoshie Yokoyama, 96, who arrived in a wheelchair with her grandson, told reporters that her parents and grandparents were bomb victims. "My grandfather died soon after the bombing, while my father and mother both died after developing cancer. My parents-in-law also died, so my husband couldn't see them again when he came back from battlefields after the war. "People are still suffering," she added. Wednesday's ceremony was set to include a record of around 120 countries and regions including, for the first time, Taiwanese and Palestinian representatives. The United States -- which has never formally apologised for the bombings -- was represented by its ambassador to Japan. Russia and China were absent. Nihon Hidankyo, the grassroots organisation that last year won the Nobel Peace Prize, is representing the dwindling number of survivors, known as hibakusha. As of March, there were 99,130 hibakusha, according to the Japanese health ministry, with the average age of 86. "I want foreign envoys to visit the peace memorial museum and understand what happened," the group's co-chair Toshiyuki Mimaki told local media ahead of the commemorations. Pope Leo XIV said in a statement that "in our time of mounting global tensions and conflicts", Hiroshima and Nagasaki remained "living reminders of the profound horrors wrought by nuclear weapons". United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that "the very weapons that brought such devastation to Hiroshima and Nagasaki are once again being treated as tools of coercion". The attacks remain the only time atomic bombs have been used in wartime. Kunihiko Sakuma, 80, who survived the blasts as a baby, told AFP he was hopeful that there could eventually be a nuclear-free world. "The younger generation is working hard for that end," he said ahead of the ceremony. But in January, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' "Doomsday Clock" shifted to 89 seconds to midnight, the closest in its 78-year history. The clock symbolising humanity's distance from destruction was last moved to 90 seconds to midnight over Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia and the United States account for around 90 per cent of the world's over 12,000 warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). SIPRI warned in June that "a dangerous new nuclear arms race is emerging at a time when arms control regimes are severely weakened," with nearly all of the nine nuclear-armed states modernising their arsenals. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump said that he had ordered the deployment of two nuclear submarines following an online spat with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. - AFP
The Star
a day ago
- The Star
Factbox-The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends an event marking the 80th anniversary of the Atomic Bombing in Hiroshima, western Japan, August 6, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (Reuters) -Wednesday marks the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Following are some facts about the bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima and a second attack on Nagasaki three days later -- the only times nuclear weapons have been used in war. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending its role in World War Two. HIROSHIMA: * At 8.15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, an American B-29 Superfortress bomber called Enola Gay dropped a 10,000-pound uranium 235 bomb, instantly killing about 78,000 people. By the end of that year, the number of dead reached about 140,000. * The bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," exploded about 580 metres (1,900 feet) above the centre of the city, setting off a surge of heat reaching 4,000 degrees Celsius (7,200 Fahrenheit) across a radius of about 4.5 km (2.8 miles). More than half of the city's buildings lay in ruins. NAGASAKI: * At 11.02 a.m. on Aug. 9, the United States dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium 239 bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man". * It exploded about 500 metres above the ground, instantly killing about 27,000 of the city's estimated population of around 200,000. By the end of 1945, the number of dead due to acute radiation exposure reached about 70,000. TOTAL KILLED: * Japan has so far recognised the total number of deaths from the bombings, including from radiation illness and injuries, as 344,306 in Hiroshima (as of Aug. 6, 2024) and 198,785 in Nagasaki (as of Aug. 9, 2024). (Editor Neil Fullick)
