While landing at a South Korean airport on Saturday, a passenger aircraft crashed, killing 179 of the 181 people who were on board, according to authorities.
The Boeing 737-800 Jeju Air flight was landing at South Korea’s Muan International Airport when the tragedy occurred.
Officials still say that it is too early to discover what exactly caused the crash, though a bird strike is believed to have sparked the deadly chain of events.
South Korean Officials have shared that pilots were beginning to land on Runway 1 but were then instructed to land on the opposite side of the airport, Runway 19, after a bird strike warning.
However, the pilots reportedly declared a mayday alert from the bird strike before attempting to land on Runway 19. During the attempt, the plane skidded along the runway without its landing gear down.
The action resulted in the plane bursting into flames and colliding nose-first into a barrier at the end of the runway, a video circulating multiple media outlets shows.
Other videos showed the aftermath of the crash as fire crews in South Korea worked to put out the flames.
It remains unclear at this time why the landing gear wasn’t lowered during the landing attempt. Officials did note that the plane hit the localizer as it tried to land, a landing guidance system at the beginning of each runway.
The two survivors were pulled from the tail end of the wreckage with moderate injuries.
Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, which they hope will shed light on the incident.
South Korea’s National Fire Agency is working to identify the victims, with at least 65 of the 179 having been identified already.