
Grieving family members form unspoken bond overnight, agree to hold funerals together once identification is completed
MUAN, South Jeolla Province -- The night stretched endlessly for hundreds of grieving family members as they waited for authorities to confirm the identities of their loved ones lost in the tragic plane crash.
As the names of the victims were announced through microphones one by one, screams of desperation filled the air.
At Muan International Airport, where a plane crashed on landing Sunday morning, claiming 179 lives, a woman burst into tears after hearing the name of a family member whose body had been identified.
“We deeply regret your loss, please proceed to the next building,” a government official told her, referring to the location where family assistance services were being provided.
As of Monday afternoon, despite the DNA tests underway, 33 bodies remained unidentified as they were so badly damaged. The plane was destroyed after it collided with the perimeter wall and burst into flames.
The victims' bodies can only be transferred to their families for funerals and final goodbyes once their identities are confirmed.
Bodies not yet transferred to funeral homes will be preserved in cold storage facilities set up in hangars and other designated areas.
The family members at the airport, once strangers, bonded overnight in shared grief, agreeing to delay funerals until all identifications have been finalized.
“We can make our voices heard when we stay together,” Park Han-sin, the representative of the bereaved families, said at the lounge of Muan International Airport on Monday.
The bereaved shared the latest updates, and exchanged their thoughts on funeral-related procedures and a possible change to the location of the joint memorial altar set up at Muan Sports Park, five kilometers from the airport.
But some revealed their pent-up, suffocating emotions as well.
“How many planes take off from Muan Airport every day? If the plane wasn’t fit to land, they shouldn’t have allowed it,” a man at the airport said through a microphone, accusing the airport of poorly handling the crisis.
“Who cares about Muan Sports Park?” the man asked. “I still haven’t seen the bodies of my wife and son — what’s the meaning of all this?”
The man’s frustration soon spilled out in loud sobbing that silenced everyone in the lounge once again.
The long list of victims included a nine-member family who returned home from a trip in celebration of an 80th birthday as well as municipal government officials on a trip to mark a colleague's retirement. The nine-member family had a 3-year-old baby accompanied by his parents in their 30s.
Although government officials tried to update the families with the latest information, the families demanded to know more.
“We told you to speak louder! We can’t hear you!” a person shouted to a Land Ministry official when an announcement was made at 6 p.m. Sunday.
“What we wanted to know was which of the victims have been identified, or the procedures the families need to take to confirm their identities -- not how many died!” another person screamed during the announcement.
As the sun rose, more cars and visitors gathered at the airport, even though it had closed and all passengers had been confirmed dead.
Friends of the bereaved offered consolation. And the bereaved families, who tried to hide their emotions, burst into tears meeting friends who arrived at the scene.
On the airport's second floor, temporary shelters organized by the Korean Red Cross and the Korea Housing Builders Association offered refuge to grieving families, whose cries of anguish pierced through the fragile walls.
