The 181 people who boarded Jeju Air flight 7C2216 in Bangkok on Sunday were no different from the millions who fly on commercial aircraft every day: children on their first trip abroad, colleagues celebrating promotion, holidaymakers returning from package tours – all looking forward to being reunited with family and friends in South Korea.
Now, though, they will for ever be associated with the worst domestic aviation disaster in the country’s history.
As authorities rushed to establish the cause of Sunday’s crash, in which all but two passengers and crew on the Boeing 737-800 died, heartbreaking stories and tributes emerged as grieving families and friends shared the pain of their loss.
The 179 people who died were aged between three and 78, although most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Five were children under the age of 10. Two Thai nationals were among the dead and the rest were South Korean.
They included a three-year-old boy who was killed in the crash alongside his parents, who had shared an Instagram image of their son looking out of the plane window on their way to Thailand. The caption read: “My son is going abroad for the first time on a night flight, and his first passport has no stamp.”
Kang Ko, 43, his wife, Jin Lee-seon, 37, and their son were returning from their first family holiday abroad when they died.
Ko, who worked in public relations for the Kia Tigers professional baseball team, was described by friends as likeable and hard-working. “He was great at his work, and the entire baseball broadcast team liked him,” the sportscaster Jeong Woo-yeong of SBS wrote on Instagram.
The victims included nine people spanning three generations of the same family, according to the Yonhap news agency. They included the eldest, a 79-year-old man, who was returning from a holiday with his wife, their two daughters and one of their sons-in-law, their granddaughter and three grandsons.
Forty-one of the passengers on the flight were on the return leg of a package tour that left Muan on Christmas night.
One of the two Thai nationals who died was Sirithon Chaue, a 22-year-old student who had won a scholarship to study airline business management at Bangkok University, and had only three months to go before graduating. She was travelling to Jeju to visit her mother, and perhaps scope job opportunities.
“She always dreamed of working there as an air hostess,” her uncle told Yonhap, describing her as the “pride of the family”.
Weeks ago Sirithon, known by the nickname Mei, had been happily posing for selfies with her girlfriends in Bangkok in an area famous for its street food. Her social media pages showed she liked K-pop and kittens, art classes and dying her bangs bright blue.
“Her mother was waiting at the airport and at first she thought the plane malfunction was minor,” her uncle said. “But then she saw the videos of what happened on social media. She was in shock and panic.”
A cousin of the other Thai victim, Jongluk Doungmanee, told BBC Thai she was “shocked” when she heard the news. “I had goose bumps. I couldn’t believe it,” Pornphichaya Chalermsin said.
Jongluk had been living in South Korea for the past five years working in the agriculture industry. She usually travelled to Thailand twice a year during the holidays to visit her sick father and two children, aged 7 and 15, from a previous marriage. Her father, who suffers from heart disease, was “devastated” when he found out about her death, said Pornphichaya.
“It is unbearable for him. This was his youngest daughter,” she said, adding that all three of his children worked abroad.
Shin Gyu-ho, whose two grandsons and son-in-law died, was among the relatives voicing frustration at how long it was taking authorities to formally identify the victims. Shin, 64, told the BBC that at one point he was so angry he had considered smashing the PA system used for police briefings.
While all of the bodies had now been identified, Shin was initially told that his two grandsons – both high school students – were “too scattered to be recognised”.
At Muan airport, post-it notes, relatives and local people have been laying food and flowers. “Honey, I miss you way too much,” one of them said. Another read: “My dear sister, you are the most thoughtful person I know. I will not be okay. I’ll always remember you. I’m sorry. I love you.”
A handwritten note, reportedly written by the pilot’s brother, had been placed alongside gimbap – a popular Korean dish of cooked rice, vegetables, and meat rolled in sheets of dried seaweed – and a drink cup near the crash site. “I feel heartbroken when I think about the struggles you faced alone (in your last moments),” it read. “You were truly amazing and did so well, so I hope you can now find happiness in a warm place. Thank you, and I’m sorry.”
For Maeng Gi-su’s nephew and his nephew’s two sons, a celebratory trip to Thailand to mark the end of the college entrance exams ended in tragedy. “I can’t believe the entire family has just disappeared,” Maeng, 78, told the BBC. “My heart aches so much.”
Jeon Je-young, 71, told Reuters that his daughter Mi-Sook, who was identified by her fingerprints, had been on her way home after travelling with friends to Bangkok for the festivities. “My daughter, who is only in her mid-40s, ended up like this,” he said, adding that he had last seen her on 21 December, when she brought some food and next year’s calendar to his house – that would become their last moment together.
Mi-Sook leaves behind a husband and teenage daughter. “This is unbelievable,” Jeon said.
As of Wednesday only a handful of bodies had been handed over to their families while the rest remained at a temporary morgue at the airport.
They included a 64-year-old man named Kim, whose brother had made a funeral parlour reservation for next Monday, only to be told that his brother’s remains were to be re-examined, possibly because they had decomposed and could be mixed with those belonging to other victims.
Kim, who was self-employed, was returning from Thailand with eight friends when they died. His brother had not been able to break the news to their 96-year-old mother, fearing what the shock might do to her health.
“She will be 97 in a day or two and we thought she shouldn’t know about this, so we are keeping quiet,” he told the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper.
The desks once used by five women who worked together at a public education office now carry bouquets of chrysanthemums placed by their devastated colleagues, some of whom wept as they tried to come to terms with the news.
The five had planned a holiday to Thailand to celebrate their promotions, according to an official who worked in the same department as one of the women. “It doesn’t feel real,” Lee Dae-keun, an official at Jeollanamdo office of education, told Reuters. “She is still lingering in my eyes. Whenever I see the flowers on that empty desk … the sadness rushes in.”
