SEOUL:South Korean investigators announced Wednesday that one of the black boxes from the tragic Jeju Air crash will be sent to the United States for further analysis. The crash, which occurred on Sunday, involved a Boeing 737-800 carrying 181 passengers from Thailand to South Korea. The plane issued a mayday call before belly-landing, hitting a barrier, and erupting into flames, resulting in the deaths of 179 people, with only two flight attendants surviving.
Both South Korean and U.S. investigators, including officials from Boeing, have been investigating the crash site in southwestern Muan to determine the cause.
South Koreaβs deputy minister for civil aviation, Joo Jong-wan, confirmed that the flight data recorder sustained significant damage, making domestic recovery of the data impossible. As a result, the damaged black box will be sent to the United States for analysis in collaboration with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Joo also confirmed that both black boxes had been recovered, with initial data extraction from the cockpit voice recorder already completed.
