Passenger plane crashes at South Korean airport, killing 120 | Gallery News

At least 120 people have been killed when a passenger plane burst into flames after skidding off a runway and crashing into a concrete fence at a South Korean airport.

Two crew members were rescued after the accident, which took place on Sunday at 9:03 local time (00:03 GMT).

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the plane – a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet – was returning from Bangkok and its passengers included two Thai nationals.

The National Fire Service said rescuers were running to pull people off the Jeju Air plane carrying 181 passengers at the airport in the city of Muan, about 290 km (180 miles) south of Seoul.

The fire department deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire.

At least 120 people – 57 women, 54 men and nine others, whose gender could not be immediately identified – died in the fire, according to the fire service.

The death toll is expected to rise further as the rest of the passengers on board the plane remain missing around six hours after the incident – making it one of the worst air disasters to hit South Korea.

Footage of the crash broadcast by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding across the runway, apparently with its landing gear still closed, and collided head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the airport.

Other local television stations broadcast footage showing thick columns of black smoke from the plane engulfed in flames.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, head of the Muan fire station, told a televised briefing that rescue workers are continuing to search for bodies scattered by the crash.

The plane was destroyed, and only the tail assembly remained recognizable among the wreckage, he said.

Workers were investigating various possibilities for what caused the crash, including whether the plane was hit by birds that caused mechanical problems, Lee said.

Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan told reporters separately that government investigators arrived at the scene to investigate the cause of the crash and fire.