Seoul, Dec 29: A passenger jet carrying 181 people erupted in flames after going off the runway and hitting a wall at an airport in South Korea's southwestern county of Muan on Sunday, likely leaving all but two dead, authorities said.

The accident happened at 9:07 am (local time), when the Jeju Air flight veered off the runway while landing and collided with a fence wall at Muan International Airport in the Muan county, South Jeolla Province, about 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul.

Except the two rescued from the accident, all the missing people are presumed to have been killed, firefighting authorities said, adding that they were switching to search operations to recover bodies, Yonhap news agency reported.

The authorities confirmed 85 deaths from the accident so far.

One passenger and one crew member, both women,were rescued shortly after the accident and were being treated at a hospital in Mokpo.

A total of 181, including six crew members, were aboard the plane that was returning from Bangkok.

Most of the passengers were Koreans, except for two Thai nationals.

Videos aired by local TV stations show the plane attempting to land without its landing gear deployed. The plane skidded along the ground, crashing into a concrete wall before exploding and being engulfed in flames.

The plane was almost completely destroyed by the explosion.

The South Jeolla authorities raised emergency alerts to the highest levels and deployed all available rescue and police personnel to the accident site.

Officials believe the landing gear failure, possibly due to a bird strike, may have caused the accident. They began an on-site investigation to determine the exact cause.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok arrived at the crash site around noon, instructing officials to make all-out efforts for search operations. Choi also expressed deep condolences to the bereaved family members and promised to offer them all possible government assistance.

The presidential office said it would convene an emergency meeting of senior officials at 11:30 a.m. to discuss government responses to the plane crash. The meeting was to be presided over by Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk.

Acting National Police Agency Commissioner-General Lee Ho-young also ordered officials to mobilise all available resources and work with firefighting and other related agencies to help with the rescue efforts.

(IANS)

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