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New York Times
14-05-2025
- New York Times
Relatives of Jeju Air Crash Victims File Criminal Complaint
Almost five months after a Jeju Air plane crashed in a deadly fireball at South Korea's Muan International Airport on Dec. 29 and killed 179 people, dozens of bereaved family members filed a criminal complaint against 15 officials in the government and aviation industry. On Tuesday, 72 relatives of victims submitted the complaint to the Jeonnam Provincial Police agency, accusing them of negligence and violating South Korean laws, according to a statement from lawyers representing the families. Among those targeted in the complaint were Jeju Air's CEO Kim E-bae, the nation's transport minister, Park Sang-woo, and airport operators at the Muan International Airport. The complaint said they had been professionally negligent and violated the Serious Accidents Punishment Act as well as the Aviation Safety Act. The families believe 'the disaster wasn't a simple accident but a serious civil disaster caused by negligence in mitigating risks,' according to the statement. The Korean Airports Corporation, the state-run company that operates most of the airports in South Korea including the one in Muan, and the transport ministry declined to comment. Jeju Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the complaint, the family members also questioned the sharp pivot the pilot made before attempting to land, as well as the plane's engine maintenance, and why Flight 2216's flight recorder stopped working four minutes before the crash. While the official cause of the crash has not been disclosed by investigators, New York Times investigations revealed that air officials had long been warned of the dangers regarding bird strikes, and that the crash might have been less deadly if the concrete wall at the end of the runway was made of a more frangible material, as they often are in other airports. 'There has been no progress in the four months since the disaster,' said Kim Da-hye, one of the family members included in the statement. 'I can't help but feel deep anger and despair.' Since the crash, transport officials and airport runners have vowed to overhaul airport infrastructure and safety measures including reconstructing the concrete navigation devices near the runways at seven airports, using drones to detect bird activity near airports, and expanding maintenance crews working for low-cost carriers. Muan International Airport officials plan to reopen the airport in July after implementing some of these new safety protocols. The nation's Aviation Railroad Accident Investigation Committee and investigators from the United States are carrying out an investigation into the cause of the accident.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- BBC News
South Korea: Jeju Air crash victims' families file criminal complaint
Some families of those killed in a Jeju Air plane crash last December have filed a criminal complaint against 15 people, including South Korea's transport minister and the airline's CEO, for professional 72 bereaved relatives are calling for a more thorough investigation into the crash, which killed 179 of the 181 people on board - making it the deadliest plane crash on South Korean crash was "not a simple accident", they allege, but a "major civic disaster caused by negligent management of preventable risks".Nearly five months on, authorities are still studying what may have caused the plane to crash-land at Muan International Airport and then burst into flames. The police had already opened a criminal investigation before this latest complaint, and barred Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae from leaving the country, but no one has been indicted over the incident. One of the relatives, Kim Da-hye, denounced the "lack of progress" in investigations. "We are filled with deep anger and despair. Having taken this extraordinary measure of filing a criminal complaint, we will not give up and will continue to pursue the truth," Mr Kim said in a statement to the the 15 people named in the complaint were government officials, airline officials and airport staff responsible for construction, supervision, facility management and bird control. The complaint filed on Tuesday raises questions around the circumstances of the crash, including whether air traffic control responded appropriately and whether the reinforcement of a mound at the end of the runway violated aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, took off from the Thai capital of Bangkok on the morning of 29 December, and was flying to Muan in South minutes after the pilots made contact with Muan International Airport, they reported striking a bird and declared a mayday signal. The pilots then tried to land from the opposite direction, during which the aircraft belly-landed without its landing gear deployed. It later overran the runway, slammed into a concrete structure and this year, investigators said they found bird feathers in both engines of the jet, but did not conclude the extent to which the bird strike was a contributing factor. Since the incident, some bereaved families have also been targeted by a torrent of conspiracies and malicious jokes included suggestions that families were "thrilled" to receive compensation from authorities, or that they were "fake victims". As of March this year, eight people have been apprehended for making such derogatory and defamatory online posts.
