The identification process of the victims killed in the recent Jeju Air Flight that exploded is still ongoing, and the authorities recently shared some heartbreaking news.
Only 5 out of 179 bodies remain intact but in severe conditions, and the bodies recovered at the crash site were separated into 606 parts.
Only 2 crew members survived the crash, with one of them losing parts of her memory and could barely recall the horrific incident.
A pre-flight inspection of a Jeju Air passenger plane hours before it crashed in South Korea revealed that there were no issues with the flight, reported BBC. While a bird strike and weather conditions may have played a role, authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash.
Jeju Air’s CEO Kim Yi-bae said the plane would not have been cleared for takeoff if the maintenance team had not signed off on its safety.
Hundreds of grieving relatives have been camping out at the Muan airport after the country’s worst aviation accident in decades, furious that they have not yet seen the bodies of their loved ones.
As of January 1, just a few of the victims’ remains have been released to their families.
5 of the victims remain unidentified
At the time of writing, the remains of 174 out of 179 people killed in Sunday’s fatal Jeju Air plane crash have been identified, with the authorities still scrambling to identify the remaining five, according to The Korea Times.
“Of the 32 people who could not be identified by fingerprints, we identified 17 people in the first DNA test and 10 more in the second round,” the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Korea said.
The Ministry also cited inconsistency in DNA results as the reason why the identification process is taking longer, which was scheduled to be completed by yesterday (December 31).
Earlier, Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 took off from Bangkok, but the flight hit a wall upon landing at the Muan International Airport.
Also read: Jeju Air Crash: All Passengers Onboard Confirmed Dead, 1 of the 2 Crew Who Survived Lost Her Memory