[News Today] “No deaths if not for concrete embankment”

[LEAD]
An investigation report into the Jeju Air crash at Muan Airport, which claimed 179 lives, has found the tragedy could have been avoided.

The analysis concludes that if a concrete embankment had not been in place, all passengers might have survived.

The collision simulation report, completed last August, was disclosed only recently.

[REPORT]
The Jeju Air passenger plane landed on its belly at Muan Airport without deploying its landing gear.

It veered off the runway and collided with a concrete embankment before exploding.

This is the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board's collision simulation report on the impact of the localizer, an azimuth navigational facility built in the form of a concrete mound, on the accident.

Collision simulations have revealed that had it not been for the concrete mound, the aircraft would have made a belly landing and slid about 770m before grinding to a halt.

They also showed that the impact during the landing would not have been severe enough to cause serious injuries to the passengers.

In other words, all of the passengers could have survived had the concrete embankment not been in place.

The simulations also showed that if the localizer had been easy to break through, the aircraft would have just passed through the fence.

This means there would have been immediate shock from the collision with the fence, but no serious injuries among the passengers.

The analysis says the primary cause of casualties was presumably a secondary impact from aircraft damage caused by the explosion and fire.

This commissioned report was released in August last year.

But the investigation board had refused to make it public despite the bereaved families' requests.

Ko Jae-seung / Bereaved families' association
It's concerning that the results have been released one year later.
A thorough parliamentary investigation is needed.

The land ministry came under fire for denying any legal violations regarding the localizer shortly after the accident.

It then walked back its stance by saying that the facility failed to meet airport safety operation standards and should have been remade into an easily breakable structure during the 2020 renovation project.

The ministry declined to provide immediate comment on the investigation board's findings.

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