Witnesses to the South Korean plane crash have described what they heard and saw before the crash.

The Jeju Air passenger plane, (Boeing 737-800) had departed from Bangkok, Thailand, before arriving at Muan Airport in South Korea early this morning at 9:03am local time.

Footage of the plane’s descent shows the Jeju Air plane skidding down the runway with it’s landing gear appearing to still be closed before crashing into a wall and bursting into flames.

The Jeju Air plane skidded on the runway before exploding (Twitter)

Carrying 181 passengers and crew, the fire station confirmed that at least 177 people died as a result of the crash, while two survivors, reported by Sky News to have been two crew members, were able to be pulled from the plane’s tail section.

It was previously reported that 174 people died in the plane crash – 83 women, 80 men and 11 people who were not immediately identifiable, however, the death toll is expected to rise as rescue efforts continue.

Eyewitnesses to the crash have since described hearing multiple explosions and flames in the plane’s engine.

The death toll has risen to 176 (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

According to Yonhap News Agency and the BBC, a witness named Cho said: “I saw the plane descending and thought it was about to land when I noticed a flash of light.

“Then there was a loud bang followed by smoke in the air, and then I heard a series of explosions.”

Meanwhile, Yoo Jae-yong, 41, who was close to the airport where he was staying, told Yonhap that he saw a spark on the right wing before the plane crashed.

“I was telling my family there was a problem with the plane when I heard a loud explosion.” they said.

Another witness, Kim Yong-cheol, said he heard ‘metallic scraping’ twice five minutes before hearing a ‘loud explosion’ and seeing ‘black smoke billowing into the sky’.

A distress signal had been sent out from the plane before it landed, and the plane’s black boxes, which include flight data and cockpit recording, has been recovered and will be studied to determine the cause of the explosion, the transport ministry have said.

Witnesses recalled hearing a ‘series of explosions’ (Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Korean transport ministry officials also say that the airport control tower had issued a bird strike warning to the plane shortly before it landed and also gave the aircraft permission to land elsewhere.

According to The Guardian, ministers shared that one of the surviving crew members had mentioned a bird strike after being rescued.

Jeju Air offered a ‘deep apology’ over the crash and in a statement and claimed it would do the ‘utmost to manage the aftermath of the accident’, and the company’s president, Kim E-bae, said that he feels ‘full responsibility’ for the crash. Although he says that no mechanical problems with the plane were noted during routine checks, Kim says will wait for the results of a government investigation to determine the cause and apologised to the families of the deceased.

The mystery of a plane which disappeared over 50 years ago appears to have been solved after a new search turned up the answer.

On 27 January, 1971 a private plane took off from Burlington Airport, Vermont and was headed for Rhode Island and contact was lost with the aircraft shortly afterwards.

There were five people on board the plane, two crew members and three development company employees, who vanished along with their plane.

Extensive efforts to find the five were made, but no wreckage could be found and searching Lake Champlain which sat adjacent to Burlington was difficult as it froze over just days after the aircraft went missing.

Several searches were made of the lake, which is 400ft deep at its lowest point, but now it seems as though the wreckage of the plane has finally been discovered.

This plane went missing in 1971 with five people on board. (NBC Boston)

According to CBS a team using remotely operated vehicles finally found some wreckage of a plane which bore the same design as the missing aircraft.

The discovery was made close to where contact had been lost with the plane, and search leader Garry Kozak said he was pretty sure it was the same plane that had gone missing 53 years ago.

He said he was ’99 percent absolutely sure’ that he and his team had found the missing plane and solved the mystery, and he hopes that this might help provide ‘some closure and answers a lot of the questions they had’ to the families of the five people who died.

He explained that searching for planes underwater was very difficult because they break up into so many pieces that identifying them among everything else beneath the surface of the water was tricky.

Kozak told WCAX-TV: “A jet, it looks like a pile of rocks, literally. So, to most people looking at sonar data, they can overlook it because they’ll go, ‘Oh, that looks like geology’.”

The wreckage was found at the bottom of Lake Champlain, near the airport where the plane took off and close to where contact was lost with it. (Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

It seems as though the discovery has gone some way in soothing the sorrows of those who were related to the five people who died in the plane’s disappearance.

Barbara Nikita, niece of pilot George Nikita, told Associated Press that the plane’s discovery was ‘a peaceful feeling’ but also ‘a very sad feeling’.

Frank Wilder, whose father of the same name was on board the plane, said: “Spending 53 years not knowing if the plane was in the lake or maybe on a mountainside around there somewhere was distressing.

“And again, I’m feeling relieved that I know where the plane is now but unfortunately it’s opening other questions and we have to work on those now.”

Shocking details about the incident surrounding the death of a passenger on a Singapore Airlines long-haul flight following a bout of severe turbulence have emerged.

The aviation industry has been rocked by the tragic incident, which also left multiple others injured, following the shocking events which unfolded onboard the Boeing 777-300ER, which was en route to Singapore from London.

The plane had departed from Heathrow Airport on Monday night (20 May), carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members.

But according to the Singapore Airlines, the aircraft suddenly ran into ‘severe turbulence’ which forced pilots to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, Thailand.

The plane made an emergency landing in Bangkok (X/@tinchok555)

Local media claimed that ambulances were seen rushing onto the tarmac in anticipation of the jet’s arrival to prepare to assist passengers who had been wounded during the chaos that unfolded in the skies.

The airline later confirmed that one traveller had tragically passed away, saying it offers its ‘deepest condolences’ to the loved ones of the late passenger.

The identity of the deceased and their cause of death have not yet been revealed.

According to flight tracking data, the Boeing was cruising at 37,000ft (11,280m) and had dropped by a whopping 6,000ft (1,830m) in the space of around three minutes.

The full details of the incident are still being established, but the figures provide a chilling insight into what may have happened onboard.

Singapore Airlines announced one passenger was dead (X/@tinchok555)

In a statement, Singapore Airlines told concerned customers: “Singapore Airlines flight #SQ321, operating from London (Heathrow) to Singapore on 20 May 2024, encountered severe turbulence en-route.

“The aircraft diverted to Bangkok and landed at 1545hrs local time on 21 May 2024. We can confirm that there are injuries and one fatality on board the Boeing 777-300ER.

“There were a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew on board. Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased. Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft.

Cordelia Lynch

@CordeliaSkyNews

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According to the flight tracking data on the London to Singapore flight, the plane was cruising at 37000 feet and in around 3 minutes it drops by 6000 feet. @SkyNews

6:58 AM · May 21, 2024

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“We are working with the local authorities in Thailand to provide the necessary medical assistance, and sending a team to Bangkok to provide any additional assistance needed,” the statement continued.

According to the US National Weather Service, severe turbulence causes large and abrupt changes in altitude.

It explained: “And, usually, large variations in indicated airspeed. The airplane may momentarily be out of control.

“Occupants of the airplane will be forced violently against their seat belts.”

Passengers are now receiving medical assistance in Bangkok, according to reports, with a fleet of ambulances seen waiting at the Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Singapore Airlines promised to keep people updated with any further information via Twitter and Facebook.

A man who survived the devastating Boxing Day tsunami has opened up about how he managed to escape on the 20^th year anniversary of the disaster.

The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami devastated countries in the Indian Ocean, with over 227,000 people losing their lives on 26 December 2004.

With 100ft waves crashing on coastal areas, it quickly swept away people who were on beaches, and even in hotels as the water battered the small islands.

The 20^th anniversary of the disaster has since come around and some of those who miraculously escape the waves have come out to tell their stories.

Just six-years-old at the time, Louise described how she and her family managed to escape the giant waves, while Luke Simon shared the pain of losing his brother, Piers.

The now 50-year-old was on Thailand’s Koh Phi Phi islands with Piers, and his girlfriend Sophie Moghadam. He also had two friends, Ben Seyfried and Nick Thorne, with him on the morning of 26 December.

Prior to the disaster, he had been working in Thailand as a PE teacher and his brother came over to visit for Christmas.

In a recent interview with The Mirror after appearing in the ITV documentary Tsunami: The Wave That Shook The World, Luke spoke about his experience.

Luke Simon survived the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

“The horizon was sort of bubbling up and down because the wave had already hit the shore and then had destroyed anything in its path, and then was coming straight at us,” he said.

As people began to run around frantically, Luke initially believed that a gunman or a rabid dog was on the loose until he heard the words: “Water, coming.”

As Luke, Piers, Sophie, Ben and Nick ran to find higher ground, three people in the group were swept away.

He had led his group to a row of streets that had buildings they could climb on while shouting at his group to ‘get high and off the ground’.

He was able to hoist himself up onto an iron shed and held a hand out for Sophie, with Piers below to push her up.

But then, Ben and Nick were taken into an alleyway by the waves and Piers vanished.

Luke was in Thailand as a PE teacher when the disaster happened (ITV)

After getting to safety on a high rooftop, Luke was soon reunited with his group and they began to look for Piers.

“We were all together again but Piers isn’t, there is something not right here. I tried to stop myself putting together these sentences, but I couldn’t.” Luke said.

He thought of numerous scenarios of what could have happened, but he would discover that he had died five days later after looking through the makeshift morgues which were erected to house the dead.

As the Thai police refused to let him identify his brother’s body because of the state it was in after being in water for so long, he enlisted the help of Ben to do it instead.

Since the disaster, he’s never once forgotten about the tragedy of the event and believes that it could happen to anyone at any time, noting that he holds no guilt for surviving, adding: “It could have happened anywhere in the world.”

Just after the tragedy, he set up School in a Bag, a charity which supplies school essentials to those in need worldwide.