M A I N   N E W S

Air China plane crashes, 128 feared dead

South Korean passenger Sul il-su sits on a hospital bed with his wife after surviving the crash of an Air China aircraft in Kimhae, near Pusan, 325 km south of Seoul, on Monday. — Reuters photo

Seoul, April 15
An Air China passenger aircraft ploughed into a wooded South Korean mountain in heavy rain and fog today, killing many of the 166

persons on board. The number of survivors fell to 39 at 1115 GMT (1645 hrs IST), a South Korean rescue official said.

The crash came just six weeks before the soccer World Cup finals are co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. As many as 60,000 Chinese are expected to be among tens of thousands of soccer fans from around the world who visit the two countries.

Flight 129, a Boeing 767 belonging to China’s national carrier, was flying to Pusan from Beijing carrying 11 crew and 155 passengers, mostly Korean. Many traders use the seven weekly flights connecting the cities.

The 17-year-old plane crashed and broke into pieces near apartments, apparently as it struggled to land in thick fog at Kimhae airport in Pusan, South Korea’s second largest city 325 km south-east of Seoul, soon after 11 a.m. (0730 hrs IST).

A local television said at least one of the flight recorders had been recovered.

Television pictures showed hundreds of rescuers, some from emergency services, some in muddied shirts and ties, combing through smoking wreckage strewn amid trees on a foggy hillside.

Yonhap news agency said most of the survivors were seated in the front of the plane and quoted Pusan aviation officials as saying that the rear part of plane appeared to have hit ground first.

Hospital and government officials said 54 persons had so far been taken from the site alive, but 15 had died at the hospital or en route, official said. South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung expressed his condolences to victims, his office said. Reuters