Jeju Air disaster localizer mound re-search ends... no additional harm

(Jeonnam Gwangju = Yonhap News) Reporter Min Hyun-ki = The re-search of the azimuth facility (localizer) mound at Muan International Airport, conducted to find the remains of victims of the Jeju Air passenger plane disaster at Muan Airport on December 29, was completed on the 22nd.

According to the Council of Families of the Bereaved Families of the Jeju Air Passenger Plane Disaster at Muan Airport on December 29, 62.1 kg of aircraft wreckage and one item of oil were collected during the re-search of the localizer mound and surrounding areas that began on the 15th.

During this re-search, no objects presumed to be remains were found.

Search authorities initially considered lifting the remains of the concrete mound using H-beams and wires and examining the lower part, but when no presumed remains were found during the excavation process, they decided to search without moving the remains in order to preserve the value of evidence.

After securing the space on the sides and bottom of the mound, soil and debris were removed, checked with the naked eye, and the necessary sections were searched by sifting through a sieve.

The bereaved families plan to look again at the seven large bags of debris from the accident aircraft stored at the Aviation and Railroad Accident Investigation Committee facility at Gimpo International Airport on the 30th.

The large bag contains the remains of the aircraft and various debris collected from the accident site in the early stages of the disaster, and the bereaved families plan to check whether any remains or belongings remain among them.

Once the work is completed on the 30th, the re-search of the accident site and stored debris that has been ongoing since last April will virtually end.

The government began re-searching the accident site in April at the request of the bereaved families when additional remains were discovered in the wreckage of the plane being stored, and as the possibility that there were unrecovered remains on the localizer mound was raised, the scope of the search was expanded to include the mound and surrounding areas from the 15th.

In a re-search of the accident site, an additional 1,709 pieces of presumed remains, 906 pieces of oil, and 1,688.9 kg of aircraft remains were collected.