According to a preliminary report, both engines of the Jeju Air plane that crashed last month in South Korea contained duck remains, as authorities continue to investigate what caused the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil.
The six-page report, released by South Korean authorities a month after the crash, revealed that both engines of the Boeing 737-800 jet contained DNA from Baikal Teals, a type of migratory duck that flies to South Korea for winter.
However, the report provided no initial conclusions about why the plane landed without its landing gear deployed or why the flight data recorders stopped recording in the final four minutes of the flight.
The Jeju Air flight, which departed from Bangkok on December 29, overshot the runway at Muan Airport during an emergency belly landing and crashed into an embankment containing navigation equipment, killing all but two of the 181 people on board.
The report mentioned that after the crash, fire and a partial explosion occurred, and both engines were buried in the embankment’s soil mound, while the front fuselage scattered up to 30-200 meters from the embankment.
The investigation will focus on tearing down the engines, examining components, analyzing flight and air traffic control data, and investigating the embankment, localisers, and evidence of the bird strike.
The report also highlighted the pilots’ awareness of a flock of birds during the plane’s final approach, and that an emergency declaration (Mayday x 3) for a bird strike was made.
