Families mourn after plane crash in South Korea

The holiday trip to Thailand was meant to be a celebration for Maeng Gi-Soo's nephew and his nephew's two sons, who were marking the end of their matriculation exams.

Instead, it all ended in tragedy when all three died on the Jeju Air plane that made an emergency landing in South Korea on Sunday morning, killing 179 of the 181 people on board.

“I can't believe the whole family has just disappeared,” Maeng, 78, told the BBC.

“My heart hurts so much.”

The family was traveling on flight 7C2216 from Bangkok to Mueang International Airport, which skidded off the runway after touching down and hit a wall shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Sunday.

All passengers on board the Boeing 737-800 died, making it one of the deadliest plane crashes on South Korean soil.

Four crew members were among the casualties, while two were rescued from the wreckage alive.

The 179 passengers were aged between 3 and 78, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said. Two Thai nationals were among the dead, and the rest are believed to be South Koreans, authorities said.

Five of the dead were children under the age of 10, and the youngest passenger, a little boy, was only three years old.

One man in his sixties said five of his three-generation family members were on the plane, including his daughter-in-law, his daughter, her husband and their young children, according to Yonhap news agency.

Many of the passengers have been celebrating the Christmas holidays in Thailand and are returning home.

The cousin of one victim, Jongluk Dungmani, told BBC Thai she was “shocked” when she heard the news.

“I got goosebumps. I couldn't believe it,” said Pornfichaya Chalermsin.

She had spent more than two weeks in Thailand visiting family and traveling in the northern city of Chiang Mai with her husband.

A 71-year-old father, Jeon Je-young, told Reuters that his daughter Mi-Sook, who was identified by her fingerprints, had returned home after traveling with friends to Bangkok for the festivities.

“My daughter, who is only in her mid-40s, ended up like this,” he said, adding that he last saw her on December 21, when she brought some food and the calendar for next year to his house – that would to become their last moment together.

Mi-Sook leaves behind a husband and a teenage daughter.

“This is amazing,” Jeon said.

One woman said that her sister, who was having a rough period, went to Thailand when her life started to improve.

“She had so many difficulties and went on a trip because her situation was just starting to improve,” she told Yonhap news agency.

The two flight attendants who survived the crash were found in the tail of the plane, the most intact part of the wreckage.

One was a 33-year-old man surnamed Lee who was rushed to a hospital in Mokpo, about 25 km (15.5 miles) south of the airport, but was later transferred to Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital in the capital Yonhap the news agency reported.

“When I woke up, I was already saved,” he told doctors at the hospital, according to its director Ju Wong, who spoke during a press briefing.

The survivor, who suffered multiple fractures, is receiving special care because of the risk of sequelae, including complete paralysis, Zhu said.

The other survivor, a 25-year-old flight attendant surnamed Ku, is being treated at Asan Medical Center in eastern Seoul, Yonhap added.

She suffered head and ankle injuries but is reportedly in stable condition.

It is not yet known what exactly caused the crash, but a number of eyewitnesses claimed to have seen the plane in distress before the crash.

Restaurant owner Im Young-hak said he initially thought it was an oil tanker accident.

“I went outside and saw thick, dark smoke. Then I heard a loud explosion, but not from the crash itself. Then there were more explosions – at least seven,” he told Reuters.

“We feel bad when accidents happen on the other side of the world, but this happened right here. It's traumatic.”

Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was near the airport, told local media that he saw a spark on the right wing shortly before the crash.

Kim Yong-cheol, 70, said the plane failed to land initially and returned to try again.

He added that he witnessed “black smoke rising into the sky” after hearing a “loud explosion”, Yonhap news agency reported.

One firefighter dispatched to the scene told Reuters he had never seen anything “on this scale”.

BBC reporters on the ground said the sounds of family members crying echoed through the terminal on Sunday evening, while others were angry at how long it was taking to identify the bodies.

Hundreds remain at Muang International Airport waiting for their loved ones to be identified.

Some have given saliva DNA samples to officials to help identify victims' bodies, and the government has offered funeral services and temporary housing for bereaved families.

National mourning has also been announced for the next seven days.

But for all the relatives of those who died, many questions still remain – not least the cause of the crash and whether it could have been prevented.

“The water near the airport is not deep,” Jeon told Reuters.

“(There are) softer fields than that cement runway. Why couldn't the pilot have landed there instead?”

His daughter Mi-suk was almost home, so he saw no reason to call and leave a final message, he says.

“She was almost home – she thought she was going home.”

Additional reporting by BBC Thai's Thanyaporn Buathong