Gimhae, South Korea | Monday
FIFTY four people survived the crash on Monday of an Air China jet carrying 166 people near the South Korean city of Busan, officials said.
”The number of those rescued alive has now reached 54,” said Cho Kwang-Shik, a fire department official. The figure has risen steadily since the crash of the Boeing 767-200 on Monday morning.
Officials cautioned though that some of those rescued were in critical condition in hospitals in Busan and nearby Gimhae.
The government began releasing a list of people taken alive to local hospitals after the jet smashed into a foggy mountainside.
Due to rain and slippery conditions, rescue workers and equipment struggled to get to the scene of the disaster on a hill in Gimhae, a city next to Busan.
Police, fire fighters and rescue workers searched the crash site in dense fog, using shovels and other equipment.
Fire fighters say they controlled the fires in the wreckage four hours after the accident took place. But sporadic explosions were heard at the scene.
A total of 457 fire fighters and rescue equipment, including 10 helicopters, were mobilised for the operation.
The Air China plane on a flight from Beijing to Busan was carrying 155 passengers and 11 crew when it went down.
Busan airport is in Gimhae. – Sapa-AFP