South Korean police raided the offices Jeju water and the operator of Muang International Airport on Thursday as they step up their investigation into the fatal crash a Boeing 737-800 179 people died.
The flight carried 181 passengers and crew members from Thailand to South Korea on Sunday when it made a distress call and landed on its belly before crashing into a barrier, killing all but two flight attendants on board.
On Thursday, authorities searched and seized Mueang Airport, where Flight 2216 crashed, the regional aviation office in the southwestern city and Jeju Air's office in the capital, Seoul, police said.
Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi Bae has also been banned from leaving the country as the investigation continues, police said separately.
“The police plan to quickly and strictly determine the cause and responsibility for this accident in accordance with the law and principles,” the police said in a statement sent to AFP.
At Muang Airport on Thursday, soldiers, police and investigators in white suits were still combing the crash site, while orange-robed monks held prayer ceremonies nearby.
Inside the airport, the staircase was covered in colorful notes left by mourners.
“Honey, I miss you too much,” one of them said.
“Even as you face the lonely and painful moments of death, may you now soar like a butterfly,” read another.
Kim Hong Ji / REUTERS
Relatives also left flowers and food near the crash site, including tteokkuk – a rice cake soup traditionally eaten on New Year's in South Korea – as they said their goodbyes, many in tears.
Star chefs featured in Netflix's mega-hit cooking competition show Culinary Class Wars, including Ahn Yoo-sung, joined volunteers in Muan this week to cook for the victims' families.
And people across the country have been remotely pre-paying for coffee at an airport cafe so families of the victims, who have been holed up in a lounge since Sunday waiting for news, can have a free drink.
More bodies were released Thursday to families to prepare for burials, the land ministry said.
Officials initially pointed to a bird strike as a possible cause of the crash, but later said the probe was also looking into the role of the concrete barrier at the end of the runway.
Dramatic video showed the plane colliding with it before bursting into flames.
Yonhap cited officials as saying the Muang Airport warrant was approved on charges of professional negligence leading to death.
“Police are collecting evidence related to the legality of the airport's localizer,” Yonhap said, referring to the concrete wall at the end of the runway where the antenna array is located.
They are also seeking recordings of communications between the control tower and the pilot shortly before the plane crashed, the report added.
Airports across the country are being inspected to check for other similar locators, the Land Ministry said in a statement.
Some experts suggested that the disaster might have been less deadly if the installation had not been made of concrete.
“The key to unlocking this mystery”
South Korea also announced it would inspect all Boeing 737-800 planes operated by its carriers, focusing on the landing gear that appears to have failed in Sunday's crash.
South Korea's acting president, Choi Sang-mok, said Thursday that “immediate measures” must be taken if the investigation reveals any problems with the plane's model.
Authorities previously said 101 planes of the same model were operated by six different airlines.
“Since the public is very concerned about the same model of the plane that was involved in the accident, the Ministry of Transport and relevant agencies should conduct a thorough review of operational maintenance, education and training,” Choi said on Thursday.
The accident became the biggest aviation disaster in the territory of South Korea.
Kim Hong Ji / REUTERS
South Korean authorities have completed the initial data extraction for the cockpit voice recorder, but the flight data recorder was damaged and had to be sent to the United States for analysis, officials said Wednesday.
Investigators say it was impossible to decode the damaged flight data recorder, which is missing a critical connector, locally. This is reported by BBC News.
“I think the cockpit voice recorder, if they can read it, will be the key to solving this mystery,” Robert Sumalt, former chairman of the NTSB, told CBS News.
Jeju Air said the crash was not due to “any maintenance issues,” according to South Korean news agency Yonhap and aviation expert Jeffrey Thomas. told BBC News that South Korean airlines are generally considered to follow “industry best practices” and that both the plane and Jeju Air had an “excellent safety record.”