The first words of one of the people who survived Jeju Air Flight 2216 have been revealed.
Heartbreaking scenes unfolded yesterday (December 29) when a Jeju Air flight crash-landed at Muan International Airport, South Korea.
In what's thought to have been a landing gear issue, the plane hit the tarmac and slid into a concrete wall before bursting into flames.
Of the 181 people onboard the plane, only two crew members survived.
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One aviation expert has argued that if the concrete wall wasn't there, more people would have survived the tragic incident.
Operations and safety editor of Flight International magazine David Learmount told Sky News: "Not only is there no justification [for the wall to be there], I think it's verging on criminal to have it there.
"That kind of structure should not be there. That is awful. That is unbelievably awful."
He added: "He [the pilot] has brought it down beautifully given the circumstances, they are going very fast but the plane is still intact as it slides along the ground."
Now, one of the survivors has since said his first words, according to reports.
Identified by his surname Lee, the 33-year-old was taken to Ewha Women's University Hospital in Seoul to be treated after crash, and upon waking up, he asked 'what happened?' and 'why am I here?', Mail Online reports.
While he survived the ordeal, it's said that Lee suffered multiple fractures, including fractured ribs and traumatic spinal injuries, that could leave him at being at a risk of paralysis, as per The Mirror.
According to Yonhap News Agency, hospital director Ju Woong said Lee had also told the doctors (via NBC News): "When I woke up, I had already been rescued."
She added that while he was in intensive care, he was communicating well and so far had showed 'no indication yet of memory loss or such'.
The other survivor is said to be a 25-year-old female cabin crew member and is being treated at the same hospital 'for scalp lacerations and ankle fracture', a hospital official told local news outlets.
She is also 'undergoing treatment for abdominal diagnosis', they added, and is expected to make a full recovery.
Less than 24 hours on from the incident and another JeJu Air flight was forced to turn around after was seems to be another landing gear-related problem.
Song Kyung-hoon, head of the management support office at Jeju Air, said in a news conference, as per The Economic Times: "Shortly after takeoff, a signal indicating a landing gear issue was detected on the aircraft's monitoring system.
"At 6:57am, the captain communicated with ground control, and after taking additional measures, the landing gear returned to normal operation.
"However, the decision was made to return to the airport for a thorough inspection of the aircraft."
South Korean officials are launching an investigation into the safety operations all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines in the wake of yesterday's crash.
Topics: World News, Travel, News, Korea, Jeju Air
Niamh Shackleton