Industry sources tell Yonhap News that aircraft travelled nationally and overseas in hours before fatal crash
Police superintendent general Na Won-o, who is leading the investigation into the plane crash, has said the DNA sampling of victims will not be immediate.
He said:
The National Forensic Service (NFS) is focusing its full efforts on this. But DNA analysis is not as immediate as taking a fingerprint and getting an instant result.
Samples need to be collected, cultured, and then analysed to produce results. This means that each step requires physical time to complete.
Many families are still gathered at Muan airport, waiting for their loved ones to be officially identified and for the bodies of their relatives to be released. Some families are reportedly frustrated at the lack of regular updates from Jeju Air and are upset about how long the identification process is taking. Authorities have so far identified 141 bodies. To help identify the bodies of victims officials have collecting saliva samples from relatives at the airport, while others have been identified by their fingerprints.
Bereaved family members stand at the scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Muan international airport.
Bereaved family members stand at the scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crashed and burst into flames at Muan international airport. Photograph: YONHAP/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 07.04 EST
06.29 EST
Shares of Jeju Air hit their lowest level on record on Monday, trading as much as 15.7% lower, while Boeing’s US-listed shares were down 4.3% in pre-market trading, Reuters reports. (The Boeing 737-800, which was the aircraft involved in the deadly crash, was operated by the discount airline Jeju Air and manufactured by Boeing).
Bereaved families call for more support from the government
Park Han Shin, whose brother died in the crash, is representing the families of the other 178 who were killed in the accident – and is demanding more support from the government.
Speaking to the media, he said:
We have to demand the government bring in more experts. We want them to recover our families, 100% of them. Or at least 80%, as soon as possible.
The only way bereaved families will feel Jeju Air has done everything it can is if they help bereaved families financially.
Why? A head of a family has passed away, parents of a family passed away. There are only children left, and how can they live on their own?
This is something neither the province officials, nor the government can help with.
Jeju Air has said it would do all it could to support the families of the victims, including with financial aid, as my colleague Justin McCurry notes in this story. Its chief executive, Kim E-bae, told a televised news conference he took “full responsibility” for the crash, irrespective of the cause, and bowed deeply in apology with other senior company officials. He said the company had not identified any mechanical
