‘Should I leave my last words?’: Passenger on Jeju Air plane texts family member before crash

Passenger on Jeju Air plane texts family member & becomes unreachable after crash

It has emerged that a passenger on the doomed Jeju Air flight 2216 had texted a family member shortly before the crash, asking whether they should leave their “last words”.

That is one of the last-known text messages sent to a family member, Reuters quoted South Korea’s News1 agency as saying.

Passenger says bird got caught in the wing

In the text exchange, made before the plane crashed in South Korea’s Muan International Airport on Sunday (29 Dec), the passenger said that a bird was caught in the plane’s wing.

The plane “can’t land”, the passenger added.

After the family member asks when this happened, the passenger replied, “just now” and added the chilling line:

Should I leave my last words?

They reportedly became unreachable after that, the relative said.

Jeju Air plane received ‘bird strike’ warning before crash

The plane indeed received a “bird strike” warning from the control tower minutes before it struck a fence at the airport, reported the Korea Herald.

Mr Ju Jong Wan, director of aviation policy at South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said the pilot sent a mayday call minutes after the warning.

Unconfirmed footage of what was claimed to be the plane while still in the air showed one of its engines appeared to suffer a small blast.

However, the authorities said that they could not confirm the authenticity of the video.

Official demurs to pinpoint exact cause of crash

The pilot then attempted to land without deploying the landing gear but the plane overshot the runway and hit the perimeter fence, Mr Ju said.

However, he demurred from pinpoint the exact cause of the crash, saying the investigation was still ongoing.

The text from the passenger has led some to believe that the crash was caused by a landing gear malfunction which was the result of the bird strike.

Mr Ju said the number of fatalities was so high because the plane caught fire after crashing.

Youngest passenger was a 3-year-old boy

Of the 181 people on board the plane, 179 have been confirmed dead.

All were Koreans except for two Thai nationals.

The youngest fatality was a three-year-old boy. He was among five children under 10 on the plane.

According to a passenger list that was released, there was a male passenger surnamed Ko who was born in 2021.

The oldest passenger was a 78-year-old man. The passenger list contains a male passenger surnamed Bae who was born in 1946.

Two survivors are flight attendants

The only two people who survived the crash were two flight attendants, one male and one female.

The 33-year-old male survivor, surnamed Lee, appeared not to remember much of the crash. He told doctors that he had already been rescued when he woke up, reported Yonhap News Agency.

He’s now in the intensive care unit due to multiple fractures.

The other survivor, a 25-year-old flight attendant surnamed Koo, is in stable condition with ankle and head injuries.

CEO apologises, national mourning period declared

Jeju Air Chief Executive Kim E Bae has apologised for the tragic plane crash, expressing “deep regret” and “sincere apologies” to the victims and their families,

Regardless of the cause of the accident, he felt “great responsibility” as the CEO, he added.

A Jeju Air official said Muan airport would remain closed till 5pm local time on Wednesday (1 Jan). Passengers scheduled to fly in will be rerouted.

Acting South Korean President Choi Sang Mok has declared a national mourning period for the tragedy, which will last till midnight on 4 Jan.

He said he felt “indescribable grief and regret” as the acting head of a government, adding that flags will fly at half-staff across government buildings and public institutions. Public officials will wear mourning ribbons.

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Featured image adapted from News1 via @shanghaidaily on X and Yonhap News Agency via X.