One Year After 12-29 Disaster, Bone Believed to Be Victim Found in Neglected Wreckage

Bone Fragment Found One Year After Disaster
Bereaved Families Condemn Botched Recovery Efforts

On the morning of the 26th, during the second inspection of accident debris at Muan International Airport in Mangun-myeon, Muan-gun, Jeollanam-do, remains presumed to be the bones of disaster victims were discovered. Accompaniment by a public interest attorney was provided.

During a second inspection of the wreckage from the "12-29 passenger plane disaster," which had been left unattended for more than a year, bones presumed to be the remains of a victim were belatedly discovered. The bereaved families expressed outrage over the poorly handled initial recovery operation a year ago and the subsequent neglect of the site.

According to the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB) of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Forensic Science Investigation Unit of the Jeonnam Provincial Police Agency, at around 11:30 a.m. on the 26th, one item of remains presumed to be a victim's bone was recovered at the site of the second inspection of the Jeju Air passenger plane disaster wreckage at Muan International Airport in Jeollanam-do.

The Forensic Science Investigation Unit discovered the remains during the final stage of sorting aircraft wreckage that had been stored in large bags. The carefully collected remains will be transferred to the National Forensic Service in Wonju, Gangwon-do, for DNA extraction and a detailed forensic examination to accurately identify the victim.

Previously, the ARAIB had been transferring aircraft wreckage scattered across the runway surface into four containers while collecting personal belongings and other key clues needed to determine the cause of the accident. The large tail wing is to be stored in a separately expanded temporary structure. The current investigation is being carried out by three teams of about 10 people each, who are classifying and documenting the wreckage, and the process is expected to continue for more than 10 rounds.

Hong Ilsan, head of the on-site support center of the 12-29 passenger plane disaster victim support group at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "If the detailed examination confirms that it is human bone, we will compare it with the DNA of the victims and inform the bereaved families of the results."

However, the bereaved families strongly protested the discovery of the remains only a year after the disaster.

Kim Yujin, head of the bereaved families' council for the 12-29 Muan Airport Jeju Air passenger plane disaster, said, "The discovered bone was not secretly buried; it was recovered from the accident site and then left all alone in a large bag," adding, "If it had been properly recovered a year ago, bloodstains or flesh might have remained, but because it was left unattended for such a long time, all of that has disappeared."

Kim continued, "Judging from the condition of the remains, there must have been far more remains and evidence at the site immediately after the disaster," and appealed, "The bereaved families are in excruciating pain over the fact that, during the long period of one year in which the site was neglected, countless pieces of evidence and truth were lost."