Memorial service for Jeju Air crash victims

Bereaved family members of the Jeju Air plane crash honor the victims through a joint ancestral rite -- also known as charye -- at the memorial altar set up for the plane crash victims at Muan International Airport on Wednesday, the day of the Lunar New Year. On Dec. 29, 2024, a Jeju Air passenger aircraft crashed during an emergency landing, resulting in 179 fatalities out of the 181 people on board. The aircraft, arriving from Bangkok, had attempted a belly landing after the landing gear failed to deploy, skidded off the runway and collided with a concrete embankment before bursting into flames.

Though comprehensive investigations are still ongoing, preliminary findings have found bird strike evidence in the plane’s engines, as well as the aircraft’s black box recording stopping before the plane approached runway.