All bodies of Jeju Air crash victims set to be handed over to families, relatives

Seoul, Jan 6 The South Korean government is set to complete handing over of all 179 bodies of the deadly Jeju Air plane crash victims to their families and relatives on Monday, acting Interior Minister Ko Ki-dong said.

Ko made the remark at a government response meeting, saying that search and recovery efforts at the crash site were in their final stages.

He said the government will "continue to provide support after funerals," adding that preparations were underway to set up an organisation to support the bereaved families.

All but two people on the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 plane carrying 181 died after it crashed at Muan International Airport on December 29.

Meanwhile, the South Korean government has been conducting a safety inspection of all 101 Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by six airlines in the country following the Jeju Air plane crash, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier on Sunday, South Korea's Transport Ministry said that authorities had moved two engines from the Jeju Air jet involved in a deadly crash the previous weekend to a hangar for a full-scale investigation.

The Jeju Air plane, with 181 people onboard returning from Bangkok, had crashed while landing at Muan International Airport in the southwestern county of Muan on December 29, killing all but two aboard.

One of the engines had been transported to the hangar on Friday, while the other had been moved the previous day, the Transport Ministry said.

Authorities had also completed transcribing the two-hour audio recorded in the cockpit voice recorder, which might have provided more clues about the cause of the accident.

The ministry said two aviation investigators planned to take the flight data recorder to the US National Transportation Safety Board on Monday for analysis.

South Korea would also carry out a special investigation into 101 B737-800 planes, the same model as the crashed jet, currently operated by six South Korean air carriers, through Friday.

Earlier, Yonhap news agency had reported that South Korean investigators were set to finalise compiling the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder recovered from the wreckage of the crashed Jeju Air plane, the Transport Ministry had said on Saturday.

The Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport was expected to draw up the complete transcript of the cockpit voice recorder on Saturday as part of its probe into the crash.

The recording might have held clues to the final moments of the crash, though the ministry had stated that it would not make it public until the investigation was completed.

The flight data recorder (FDR) had been in the process of being prepared for transport to the United States for analysis, according to the ministry.

Source: IANS