National Transportation Safety Board investigator John Lovell examines the fuselage plug area of a Boeing 737-9 Max, Jan. 7, 2024. (National Transportation Safety Board)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will be assisting its South Korean counterpart in the investigation into the crash that killed all but two of the 181 people aboard a Boeing 737-800 aircraft at the Muan International Airport on Sunday.
The NTSB will lead a team of investigators that also includes Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration to assist South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Board, the board said in a statement on social platform X on Monday.
The results of the investigation will be released by the South Korean agency, the NTSB added.
Sunday’s Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 flight from Bangkok claimed 179 lives after the aircraft crash-landed at the Muan International Airport, roughly 175 miles south of Seoul.
President Joe Biden in a statement Sunday said he was “deeply saddened” by the accident and that the U.S. “stands ready to provide any necessary assistance.”
“As close allies, the American people share deep bonds of friendship with the South Korean people and our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by this tragedy,” he said.
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg said he was “heartbroken to hear about the tragedy,” according to a Sunday post on X.
“My sincerest condolences go out to the victims and their loved ones, and my thoughts are with the people of Korea during this difficult time,” he said.
The NTSB is an independent agency operating under the U.S. Department of Transportation since 1967. Its approximately 400 employees are charged with investigating aviation, highway, marine, pipeline, railroad and commercial space accidents, according to its website.
The NTSB has conducted several investigations into aviation incidents to and from South Korea since 1984.
The agency most recently published an investigative report involving a South Korean airliner in 2022, after a Korean Air Airbus A220-300 received an engine fire warning and experienced vibrations during a flight to Japan roughly three years earlier. No injuries were reported in the incident and the investigation found that an engine blade was fractured.
The only two survivors of the crash Sunday at Muan, both crew members, are being treated for injuries at hospitals in Seoul, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Sunday.
As of Monday afternoon, 141 bodies from the wreckage were identified through fingerprints and DNA analysis, according to a news release from the ministry. The aircraft’s flight data recorder has been recovered and is being analyzed, the release added.
The acting South Korean president, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, who assumed the office after his predecessor was impeached Friday, declared a weeklong period of mourning for the nation until Jan. 4. Choi traveled to Muan to inspect the scene, according to the AP.
