‘Bird stuck in wing,’ passenger on crashed plane says in texts to family

Emergency rescue workers at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province work to extinguish a fire on Jeju Air 7C 2216, which crash-landed Sunday morning, leaving at least 62 dead. (Yonhap via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network)

One of the passengers on the ill-fated plane that crashed Sunday morning sent a text message about the aircraft “not being able to land because of a bird on a wing,” in one of the last known texts sent to a family member.

A family member of one of the passengers aboard Jeju Air 7C 2216, which left 179 dead in a crash landing, received the text messages moments before the incident.

“A bird is stuck in the wing, and we can’t land. Just now. Should I leave my last words?” the passenger said in a 9 a.m. text conversation with a relative, who told local News1 that the passenger has remained unreachable since.

READ: ‘She was almost home’: Father mourns daughter killed in Jeju Air crash

The Jeju Air flight, carrying 175 passengers and six crew, overshot the runway at Muan International Airport at around 9 a.m. Sunday and collided with the perimeter fence. A subsequent explosion caused a fire, which fire authorities were able to extinguish at around 9:50 a.m.