Plane with 181 on board crashes in South Korea, 47 dead

At least 47 people were dead on Sunday after an airliner carrying 181 people veered off a runway and crashed into a wall at South Korea’s Muan International Airport, Yonhap news agency reported.

The Jeju Air plane, which was carrying 175 passengers and six flight attendants, was reportedly flying back from Bangkok in Thailand and the accident took place while it was landing.

Two people were found alive and rescue operations were still under way, a fire official told the Reuters news agency.

Emergency services were attempting to rescue people in the tail section of the aircraft, an airport official said.

The passengers on board included 173 South Koreans and two Thais, Yonhap reports.

The cause of the crash is still not known, but local media is reporting that it may have been caused by birds getting caught in the plane’s systems.

Unverified footage uploaded to social media shows the aircraft skidding off the runway and crashing into a wall, before part of it bursts into flames. Other footage shows a large plume of black smoke rising into the sky.

One flight attendant and one passenger have been rescued so far, South Korea’s fire agency said in a statement, adding that 32 fire trucks had been deployed to the crash site.