Boeing (NYSE:) shares fell more than 4% in premarket trading Monday after a devastating air accident in South Korea claimed the lives of 179 people on Sunday when a passenger plane crash-landed at Muan International Airport.
The aircraft, Boeing 737-800, skidded off the runway, colliding with a wall and erupting in flames, making it the deadliest aviation disaster in the country’s history.
Jeju Air flight 7C2216, which departed from Bangkok, was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members. The plane attempted to land shortly after 9 a.m. local time (0000 GMT), according to South Korea’s transport ministry.
Two crew members, the only known survivors, were pulled from the wreckage and are receiving medical care. The ministry confirmed that this incident marks the most severe crash involving a South Korean airline in nearly 30 years.
Jeju Air shares plunged over 8% on Monday on the Korea Exchange.
Footage shared by local media shows the Boeing 737-800 skidding along the runway without its landing gear deployed, before striking airport infrastructure and bursting into flames.
A local health official reported that the two survivors, a man and a woman, were found in the tail section of the plane. They are being treated for moderate to severe injuries.
Investigators are exploring the possibility of bird strikes or adverse weather as contributing factors. Yonhap news agency cited airport officials who suggested a bird strike may have led to the failure of the landing gear.
This incident surpasses the severity of the 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam, which resulted in over 200 fatalities, and exceeds the 2002 Air China (OTC:) crash in South Korea that killed 129 people.
Following international aviation protocols, South Korea will oversee the investigation, with assistance from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The NTSB confirmed it is sending a team of experts, joined by Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to support the inquiry.
