Video: Jeju Air plane crash kills 179 in worst airline disaster in South Korea

The deadliest air accident ever in South Korea killed 179 people on Sunday, when an airliner belly-landed and skidded off the end of the runway, erupting in a fireball as it slammed into a wall at Muan International Airport.

Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 175 passengers and six crew on board, was attempting to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea's transport ministry said.

Two crew members survived and were being treated for injuries.

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The deadliest air accident on South Korean soil was also the worst involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, according to the transport ministry.

The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 was seen in local media video skidding down the runway with no visible landing gear before crashing into the wall in an explosion of flames and debris.

"Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of (the plane) looks almost impossible to recognise," Lee told a press briefing.

The two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a briefing. They were being treated at hospitals with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health centre.

Investigators are examining bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said. Yonhap news agency cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.

Authorities were searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee said.

Video shared by local media showed the twin-engine aircraft skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane.

Take a look at the moment the tragedy unfolded on the runway:

'Should I say my last words?'

Hours after the crash, family members gathered in the airport's arrival area, some crying and hugging as Red Cross volunteers handed out blankets.

Families screamed and wept loudly as a medic announced the names of 22 victims identified by their fingerprints. Papers were circulated for families to write down their contact details.

One relative stood at a microphone to ask for more information from authorities. "My older brother died and I don’t know what’s going on," he said. "I don’t know."

Another asked journalists not to film. "We are not monkeys in a zoo," he said. "We are the bereaved families."

Mortuary vehicles lined up outside to take bodies away, and authorities said a temporary morgue had been established.

The crash site smelled of aviation fuel and blood, according to Reuters witnesses, and workers in protective suits and masks combed the area while soldiers searched through bushes.

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