South Korean police raided the federal transport ministry as the investigation into the 2024 Jeju Air crash intensified.
Investigators searched the headquarters of the ministry of land, infrastructure and transport in Sejong on Friday, seeking documents related to the fatal accident involving Jeju Air Flight 2216.
The Boeing 737-800 overshot the runway at the Muan international airport on 29 December 2024 and slammed into a concrete structure, killing all but two of the 181 people on board.
The only survivors were two flight attendants seated in the aircraft’s tail section.
Police said its investigators reached the ministry building at 8.40am to conduct search-and-seizure operations as part of a wider inquiry into the disaster. They were seeking to secure records that could clarify both the sequence of events leading up to the crash and how government agencies handled the response.
Officials said they had search warrants for four individuals working in the ministry’s air navigation and airport operations divisions at the time of the accident.
In all, police said they had identified 64 suspects, including 45 suspected of causing death or injury through occupational and gross negligence, as the investigation expanded.
The latest developments came amid rising public anger after investigators recently discovered additional human remains and belongings of victims in the debris collected from the crash site.
Families of the victims had long demanded that rubble removed from the airport be re-examined.
The discovery prompted South Korean president Lee Jae Myung to order a new inquiry on Thursday into why the remains and personal items were not identified earlier and to call for disciplinary action against those responsible for delays in the recovery process.
The transport ministry then issued an apology, but families of the victims rejected it.
“We are appalled by the transport ministry’s late and inadequate apology, which the families say is like killing the victims a second time,” a representative for the families said.
Initial investigations indicated the ill-fated aircraft encountered a bird strike before attempting an emergency landing. After the birds reportedly struck the engine, the pilots managed to bring the aircraft down on its belly and slide along the runway. The situation turned catastrophic when the plane collided with a raised concrete structure housing a navigation antenna system at the end of the runway.
A separate inquiry by the national audit board earlier this week found the structure had been built as a cost-saving measure when the airport was constructed on sloping terrain. Instead of flattening the ground to install the navigation system, the equipment was mounted inside an elevated concrete structure near the runway.
The board said such localiser structures were designed to break apart on impact, and simulations indicated that everyone on board might have survived had the plane not struck the mound which caused it to erupt into a fireball.
In the aftermath of the disaster, aviation authorities removed similar concrete navigation structures at seven airports across the country as a precaution.
The investigation is expected to continue for several months and official findings are expected to be released by mid-year.
