MEMORIAL
Victims’ families camped out at the airport overnight in special tents set up in the airport lounge after a long, painful day waiting for news of their loved ones.
“I had a son on board that plane,” said an elderly man waiting in the airport lounge, who asked not to be named, saying that his son’s body had not yet been identified.
At the crash site early Monday, a middle-aged man and woman kept their gaze fixed through the fence, where remnants of the plane – seats, gates, and twisted metal parts – were still scattered across the field near the charred tail.
The smell of blood was still in the air.
Soldiers carefully combed through a field of reeds next to the runway, engaged in what appeared to be a search for body parts.
The passengers, aged from three to 78, were all Korean apart from two Thais, authorities said.
Low-cost carrier Jeju Air said it “sincerely” apologised, with top officials shown bowing deeply at a news conference in Seoul.
Another Jeju Air flight using the same model aircraft experienced a malfunction linked to the landing gear and was forced to return to Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport shortly after takeoff Monday, the airline said.
The company’s share price dropped as much as 15 per cent on Monday, with anxious customers also cancelling some 68,000 flights with the airline, Jeju Air told AFP.
