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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Raphael Rashid in Seoul

Text messages, a mayday and then tragedy: the day flight 7C2216 was lost

Nuns lay flowers at a memorial altar for the victims of the Jeju Air crash at Muan international airport in South Korea
Nuns lay flowers at a memorial altar for the victims of the Jeju Air crash at Muan international airport in South Korea. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

“A bird is stuck in the wing. We can’t land,” one passenger on board the ill-fated Jeju Air flight 7C2216 sent out in a panicked text just before 9am on Sunday morning. “Should I write my final words?”

Minutes later, the Boeing 737-800 carrying 181 people veered off the runway and burst into flames, resulting in South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster.

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