The crash was a classic example of controlled flight into terrain an accident where nothing really goes wrong except that the aircraft is deposited in an unwelcoming place. The approach occurred in limited visibility and while the instrument landing system was out of service. The ill-fated jet was to pick up members of Guam's national athletic team and take them to American Samoa for the Mini South Pacific Games.At 1 am on 6 August 1997 Korean Air Flight 801, on approach to Guam, flew into Nimitz Hill, 6 km short of the runway, killing 228 of the 254 people on board. Guam, 4,000 miles west of Honolulu, is 212 square miles in area and has a population of 150,000. Korean Air usually uses an Airbus for the Seoul-Guam route, but the Boeing jumbo jet was pulled in to carry more people during the summer tourist season. Such outages are not uncommon, and pilots routinely land with the help of an electronic devices that provide locators. Won Pat International Airport control tower in Guam lost contact with the plane during its approach.Ī landing system known as the glide slope indicator, which leads planes to the runway, had been out of service at the airport. military transport plane will take the survivors back to Seoul tomorrow. About 100 of them staged a sit-down on an eight-lane street in front of a Korean Air building, shouting "Korean Air, you swindlers!"Īirline Vice President Lee Tae-won said a U.S. Many were frustrated by what they considered the airline's ineffective handling of the crash. "I can't suppress the overflowing sorrow," said South Korean President Kim Young-sam.Ībout 500 relatives gathered at Kimpo International Airport in Seoul, awaiting word about loved ones. In Seoul, Korean Air began notifying victims' relatives, some of whom collapsed in grief. Later, the Navy began clearing a road to the site. With the jet still smoldering, Navy Seabees moved in backhoes to crack open the fuselage and try to rescue anyone who might be alive. Two Navy CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, with pilots wearing night-vision goggles, helped rescue the survivors, many of whom suffered burns. The voice and flight-data recorders have been sent to Washington for analysis. The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to investigate. The plane, a Boeing 747-300 delivered to Korean Air in 1984, was trying to land at an airport that lacked both a main landing system and a government-staffed control tower. "I helped her out and we ran away, fearing that the plane may explode." One South Korean survivor, Hong Hyon-song, 35, said there was no fire or explosion before the crash.Ī woman grabbed his feet as he climbed out of the plane, he told KBS-TV. We had to follow the sounds to find them." As I got close to the scene I could hear the screams," he said. Hundreds of rescuers had to make their way through mud and the towering, razor-sharp grass. Gutierrez, one of the first people on the scene, said rain-soaked sawgrass covering the rocks made it so slippery it was impossible to carry survivors more than a few hazardous steps. But the plane's pilot and co-pilot were missing and presumed dead, the airline said. The survivors came from the front of the plane, which was largely intact. Korean Air said the survivors included three Americans, identified as Grace Chung, Hyun Seong Hong and Angela Shim. At least three people pulled from the wreckage died in the hospital. Sixty-nine bodies had been recovered from the wreckage by the time the rescue effort was called off for the night, said Ginger Cruz, a spokeswoman for Guam Gov. On board were 23 crew members and at least 13 Americans. "We know there are some bodies still down there, but it's smoldering too hot."įlight 801 was carrying mostly South Korean tourists, including many families heading to Guam's tropical beaches for vacation, when it crashed in a driving rain just before 2 a.m. "We scoured the whole area all day today," said Air Force Col. Seventeen hours later, rescuers said they had found all the survivors. The Boeing 747 from Seoul came to rest in a deep ravine three miles from its airport destination on this U.S. The airline said 29 of the 254 people on board survived, some of them able to walk away. AGANA, Guam - Rescuers removed bodies from the wreckage of a Korean Air jet that crashed yesterday into the dense jungle of Guam and plowed through rocky hills in a ball of fire.
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