Thanyaporn Buathong
BBC Thai Service

Image source, Pornphichaya chalermsin

The cousin of a Thai passenger, 49-year-old Jongluk Doungmanee, who was onboard the fatal Jeju Air flight says she is "saddened" and "shocked".

Pornphichaya Chalermsin, from Nong Wua So District, Udon Thani, says her cousin Jongluk is a mother of two children, aged 7 and 15, and had been living in South Korea for five years, working in agriculture with her Korean husband, whom she married three years ago.

In an interview with BBC Thai, she said she had "only ever seen such news from other countries and never thought it would involve Thai people", adding that "watching the video footage made me feel even more distressed.

“I was shocked, I had goosebumps. I couldn’t believe it… when the news said one of the victims was from Udon Thani, I was even more surprised."

Before her flight on Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, Joungluk had spent over two weeks in Thailand visiting her family and traveling in Chiang Mai with her husband. Her husband had already returned to South Korea before she departed.

• For context: We've received confirmation that 179 people on board the flight have died, with two crew members rescued. The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the death of two Thai women on the flight has been confirmed. A total of 88 victims have been identified so far

The Yonhap news agency is now reporting that the runway at Muan airport will remain closed until 05:00 local time on Wednesday (20:00 GMT on Tuesday) .

Recovery teams are still currently working at the site of the wreckage using floodlight.

The crash was not due to "any maintenance issues", the head of Jeju Air's management team says.

According to the Yonhap news agency, Song Kyung-hoon told a press briefing: "There are areas we have to investigate further by determining the exact cause of the crash."

He adds that there is a schedule for maintenance checks and that they leave "no stone unturned" regarding maintenance work ahead of take-offs. Kyung-hoon also says the company's insurance plan should be able to support the victims and their families, Yonhap reports.

Image source, Reuters

Family members of the victims could be heard by BBC correspondents weeping on the first floor of Muan International Airport.

Speaking to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, one woman surnamed Kim said her sister had been aboard the flight. "She's had so many hardships and gone traveling because her situation was only just beginning to improve."

The news agency also reports that people gathered to listen to an update from officials, with one asking: "Is there no possibility of survival at all?"

"Regrettably, it appears so," chief of Muan fire department Lee Jeong-hyeon answered.

Authorities have so far identified 88 people.

We’ve just had confirmation that 179 people on board the aircraft have died. There are two survivors - both flight staff who were rescued from the wreckage and taken to hospital.

That means that all of the plane's 175 passengers were killed in the crash, along with four flight staff.

Jean Mackenzie
Reporting from Muan International Airport

There is so much heartache inside this one room, as hundred of families wait for the bodies to be identified. Some have been so injured, their gender is still unknown.

People here have lost husbands, wives, children, and grandchildren - many have lost multiple family members. Most were returning from a Christmas spent in Thailand.

One gentleman we spoke to, Maeng Gi-su, 78, said his nephew and his nephew's two sons had been on the flight.

They’d gone to celebrate the youngest taking his college entrance exams, he tells me. Their father had taken them as a treat. “I can’t believe the entire family has just disappeared. My heart aches so much”, he says.

The government has declared a period of national mourning for the country for the next seven days.

Flags at government offices will be lowered and civil servants will wear black ribbons.

Jake Kwon
Reporting from Muan International Airport

The tension is running high in the hall.

You can hear the bereaved families raising their voices - even yelling at the officials where they spot them.

They are frustrated that the identification is taking a long time; The crash occurred around 09:00 local time this morning (00:00 GMT).

One official told the crowd that some of the passengers are underage, which meant they did not carry an ID, thus making the identification a challenge.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has also shared his condolences to the victims and their families.

In a post on Telegram, Xi sent a message to acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok expressing shock at the large number of victims, China's state-run CCTV said.

"On behalf of the Chinese government and people, I express my deep condolences to the victims and my sincerest consolations to the victims' families, and wish for the swift recovery of the injured," he was quoted as saying.

David Lammy, the UK's foreign secretary, says he is "deeply saddened" by the news of the plane crash in South Korea.

In a post on X, he adds: "My heartfelt condolences go out to the people of South Korea and Thailand, and all those that have lost loved ones."

As a reminder, most of the passengers on board are believed to have been South Koreans, with the exception of two Thai nationals.

Image source, EPA

We're now hearing more about the situation on the plane before it crashed.

According to local media, a passenger on the flight sent a text message to a family member saying that a bird "was stuck in the wing" and that the plane couldn't land.

"Should I leave my last words" the passenger wrote.

The relative said they were unable to reach the passenger on the plane again.

Image source, EPA

Jake Kwon
Reporting from Muan International Airport

We're still at the scene here at Muan International Airport, where emergency workers are now using floodlights to continue the recovery operation.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Molit) says they have now recovered both the flight and voice recorders from the wreckage, which will help the investigation into what caused the crash.

As we've recently reported the death toll is currently 177. Every few minutes, we hear wailing echo through the airport terminal where relatives of those killed have gathered today.

Inside the terminal, the airport authorities and the Red Cross have set up more than a dozen yellow tents for the bereaved families to find privacy. Each family has been given wool blankets to keep themselves warm or sit on in the hall.

In another corner, there are stacks of bottled water and instant noodles.

There are Red Cross workers in white vests and airport workers in yellow vests distributing supplies. Meanwhile, fire department workers in orange and government employees in green jackets worn at times of disaster come and go, delivering briefings every half hour.

As we've been reporting this morning, an investigation will seek to determine the exact cause of the crash but here are the details surrounding the tragedy that have been confirmed so far today.

• The aircraft involved in the crash was a Boeing 737-800 flown by Korean budget airline Jeju Air
• The flight crashed at Muan International Airport shortly after 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT)
• 181 people were on board the aircraft. Of those, 177 have since been confirmed dead, with two crew members taken to the hospital. A total of 22 people have been identified so far

• A temporary morgue has been set up as families of the victims are gathering at the airport

• Most of the passengers on board were South Koreans with the exception of two Thai nationals
• Ages of the passengers range from three to 78-years-old, but most were in their 40s, 50s and 60s, South Korean Yonhap news agency reports

Let's have a look back at the communications that have come from plane manufacturer Boeing and Jeju Air, the airline involved in the crash this morning.

In a statement, Boeing said: "We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them. We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew."

Jeju Air have a black banner at the top of their website which reads: "We deeply apologize to all those affected by the incident. We will make every effort to resolve the situation. We sincerely regret the distress caused."

Earlier today Jeju Air bosses lowered their heads during a media briefing in which they issued a public apology.

Image source, Reuters

A little earlier our colleagues on the news channel heard from Geoffrey Thomas, an aviation expert and commentator.

He explains: "It appears as though there has been a bird strike and one of the engines, the right-hand engine was impacted. This would have caused a lot of pressure in the cockpit."

He says that "with all the checking and cross-checking going on relating to this engine failure, it could well be that [the] pilots simply forgot to put the landing gear down".

Pilots see warnings near Muan Airport at this time of year for flocks of mallard birds, which can be very large, Thomas says.

But if the landing gear was not deployed, warnings would have sounded in the cockpit, he adds, and the undercarriage could be manually deployed if a problem prevented the landing gear from descending.

"Whether the engine situation was such that they felt they didn't have time to do that we don't know," Thomas continues. "But they would have declared an emergency and therefore the firefighting units should have been runway-side" and should have prepared for a gear-up landing. Foam can also be laid on the runway in such a case.

Thomas says that South Korea and its airlines are considered "industry best practice" - both the aircraft and the airline have an "excellent safety record".

He adds: "A lot of things about this tragedy don't make sense."

• Investigators are still determining exactly what happened to cause the crash. You can read more about what we know - and what we don't.

South Korea's suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, offered "deep condolences" to the families of those who died in the plane crash at Muan International Airport on Sunday.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday sent condolences to the families of those killed in a deadly plane crash in South Korea.

"We have received terrible news of a plane crash in South Korea with many fatalities. Our condolences go out to the families of those killed in the crash and we wish the injured a speedy recovery," he wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says: "On behalf of the Ukrainian people and myself, I extend heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, the people of Korea, and Acting President Choi Sang-mok. We share your sorrow and stand with the Korean people in this time of grief."

The death toll has increased by one in the last few moments, meaning 177 have been confirmed dead after the crash.

As a reminder, 181 people were on the plane in total - with two survivors having been taken to the hospital earlier.

As we've been reporting, the plane crash at Muan International Airport could be the worst aviation accident in South Korean history. We've taken a look at other such crashes in South Korea:

• In 2002, a Boeing 767-200 operated by Air China crashed into a hill near near South Korea's port city of Busan. The crash killed 129 people and injured 37.
• In September 1983, a Korean Airlines Flight was shot down by a Soviet jet, after straying into Soviet airspace over Sakhalin island. All 269 people on board were killed.
• In 1997, a Korean Air jumbo jet crashed on the Pacific island of Guam, killing 228 people out of the 254 people on board.

The crash this morning is unusual for South Korea, which has had a good flight safety record in recent years, and this appears to be the only fatal crash that Jeju Air has had in its nearly 20 year history, writes BBC's Seoul correspondent Jean Mackenzie, who is at the scene of the crash at Muan Airport.

A South Korean transport official earlier gave details about what happened to the plane as it approached the airport.

• The plane had been attempting to land but then air traffic control gave a bird strike warning forcing the plane to hold off, the official says
• About two minutes later, the pilot called a Mayday - and air traffic command gave permission for the plane to land from an opposite direction

The pilot accepted - video shows the plane touched down without wheels or any other landing gear and skidded down the runway before crashing into a wall, causing a fiery explosion.

The transport department notes that the head pilot had been in this role since 2019 and had more than 6,800 hours of flight experience.

Image source, Reuters

Officials now say the death toll has risen to 176. As a reminder, the plane was carrying 181 people, including 175 passengers and six crew members.

Two people, both crew members, were rescued from the wreckage and taken to hospital. So far, authorities have identified 22 victims, news agency Yonhap reports.

The National Fire Agency continues to update the death toll. This is a fast-moving story and we'll bring you the latest updates as we get them.