South Korea crash investigation ramps up as funeral procedures begin

1/1/2025 17:46

The investigation into the crash of a South Korea passenger jet gathered pace on Wednesday as bereaved families began to prepare funerals after authorities finished formally identifying the 179 victims of the country's worst air disaster.



The transport ministry said South Korean investigators have extracted the data from the plane's cockpit voice recorder and will convert it into an audio file, hopefully offering critical information to try to explain the few minutes that led up to the crash.



It could take about two days for investigators to convert the data to audio files, the ministry said.



For the damaged flight data recorder, the investigation team has determined it was not possible to extract its contents in South Korea, and plan to send the black box to the United States in cooperation with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for analysis, the ministry said.



All 175 passengers and four of six crew members were killed on Sunday when the Jeju Air jet belly-landed at Muan International Airport in the country's southwest and slammed into a sand-and-concrete embankment at the end of the runway, where it burst into flames.



The government has declared a national mourning period until Jan. 4 and the country will scale back New Year's celebrations.