Muan, South Korea – Muan International Airport looks like any other airport during the holidays. Its parking lot is filled with hundreds of cars while the departure gates and access gates are busy.
Yet it's nothing like any other airport, and there's no holiday spirit on display. It has been two days since the airport suspended all operations after a deadly plane crash on Sunday left only two of the 181 passengers and crew on board. Jeju Air Flight 2216 from Thailand to South Korea crashed into a concrete barrier and was immediately engulfed in flames after an emergency belly landing on the Muan runway.
Inside the airport, in the South Jeolla region of the country, there is a sea of people dressed in black, resembling South Korean funerals. Families and friends are hugging each other, amidst tears and cries of grief.
They are waiting to receive the remains of their loved ones, to join them one last time.
Ki Hwe-man, 37, traveled for more than five hours from the northern city of Paju after hearing that his uncle was one of the victims of the plane crash. He remembers his late uncle as a man of faith and a friend.
“When I was young, I always kicked the ball around the ball, and my uncle came to our house often to see us. He was the only adult at our family gatherings who came to play with the children,” recalls Ki. “He was always good-looking and a good role model. He is the person I want to be one day.”
As the victims' relatives sat at the airport in makeshift tents and benches since Sunday, many relatives and close friends from around the country began gathering at the airport the next day to mourn with them.
Of the 179 people who died, five victims have not yet been identified.
Most of those on board were on vacation in Thailand, including 41 members who were on a trip to Bangkok sold by a tour agency. The eldest was 78 years old while the youngest was three years old.
“Just one day before my sister left for her trip, she went to our mother's house in Gwangju to give her Christmas presents,” recalls a middle-aged man getting fresh air outside the airport, whose sister and brother-in-law died. damage. After making her try on new clothes, she told our mother that she would be back soon.
He remembers how his sister, who was younger than him, brought the family together after their father died last year.
“He is the one who told us to go to Yeosu last summer and Daecheon this fall. He took care of our sick father in his last days. We took courage from him,” he says, before leaving, overcome with emotion.
A national mourning period has been declared for seven days while memorials have been set up in cities across the country. About 10km (6.2 miles) from Muan airport, a memorial altar was erected at the city's stadium to honor the victims.
Jeon Myung-hwan came down from Seoul to say his last goodbye to his best friend.
“My friend and his wife were on a retirement trip, and we even talked on the phone last week. We talked about our trip recently,” Jeon told Al Jazeera with a trembling voice.
Having met in elementary school in their hometown of Gwangyang a few hours east of Muan, the two friends get together once a year with other friends.
“We got married at the same time, so our families often met and went for walks together. He was calm and gentle, but he always cared for others like his big brother,” Jeon recalls.
Since his friend's wife has not yet been identified in the search at the airport, her name was not found on the funeral altar with the names of other people.
“It is sad to see that my friend is not next to his wife at the altar,” says Jeon. I hope he is at peace in heaven next to his wife.
On Tuesday, after two full days of trying to recover, families were able to begin funerals as the first bodies were recovered. However, families at the airport have expressed their dismay at the slow response from government officials and complained about the lack of leadership.
Park Han-shin, a representative of the families, told reporters gathered at Muan Airport that he “no longer trusts the authorities” after saying they were too busy pushing charges against each other.
South Korea is currently led by its own the third president in just one month. President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from his position as president following his announcement at the beginning of the month. Prime Minister Han Duk-soo, who was next in line, was elected president just two weeks later, leaving Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok to deal with the country's woes, the political arena, and the ongoing recession. presidential singer.
Choi's emergency safety order for the country's entire airline industry includes a special inspection of all 101 Boeing 737-800 planes – the model involved in Sunday's crash – operated by South Korean Airlines, for history of major component maintenance.
When a bird strike was initially cited as the cause of the accident, experts have questioned the extent of this theory as the cause of the accident. The plane's cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders have been collected by authorities for review.
In its investigation, South Korean officials will need to look into questions such as the plane's speed after landing, its unexploded ordnance, the operation of the thrust reversers and landing gear. The people of Muan said they heard an explosion before the plane suddenly landed.
Therefore, many people's attention has focused on Jeju Air, the airline company.
The bosses of the low-cost carrier knelt down and apologized publicly at a press conference after Sunday's plane crash. Named after Jeju Island, the airport is South Korea's first and largest airport. Among the concerns is the overcrowding of flights during the holiday season. The Jeju airliner that crashed on Sunday was found to have operated 13 flights in the 48 hours before the crash, according to Yonhap News Agency, which cited industry sources.
Local media have previously reviewed online posts believed to have been written by former Jeju Air employees. Writing on Blind's anonymous website, the memo from last year said that the company's efforts to “save costs” led to “four incidents of engine failure during flight.” Another article that may have been written by a mechanic of another company said that “fellow mechanics work through the night for 13 to 14 hours of work, with no time off except for lunch.”
About 68,000 Jeju Air flights were canceled within 24 hours of Sunday's crash.
Questions were also spread about concrete wall at the end of the Muan airport where the plane crashed. The buildings, the incoming flight control device, the fence and the end of the runway were at least 250 meters (820 feet), in accordance with safety regulations, according to Muan airport officials.
Back at the memorial altar in Muan, Song In-young, 61, said he was visiting from the neighboring city of Naju to pay his respects to the victims.
“We don't have any blood relations (between the victims), but I consider everyone on the plane as my family. Especially for people like me who went through the brutal political repression in the 1980s, we are very close to cities in this region,” he said, referring to the massacre of the people of Gwangju, where hundreds of people were known to have been killed by the soldiers who were in power at the time.
“I believe in life after death, so I wish the victims peace in their next journeys,” says Song. “Most of all, I hope the family finds peace soon.”