Speculation about the plane’s condition continues to circulate online.
As local authorities in South Korea race to figure out what happened to “HL8088,” a Jeju water Boeing 737-800 plane crashed at Muan International Airport on December 29, 2024 (KST), speculation about the condition of the plane continues to circulate online.
While the exact cause of the crash has not yet been verified, several tweets highlighted the emergency landing of the same plane the day before.
The same plane (HL8088) declared an emergency yesterday and made an emergency landing in Seoul. https://t.co/y78UqT4dsT
— asteria (@10_davinetto) December 29, 2024
Second Aviation Source NewsHL8088 was en route to Beijing on Dec 27, 2024 (KST) when it declared an emergency before diverting to Incheon International Airport.
Jeju Air Flight 7C8135, operated by a Boeing 737-800 was en route to Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX). The aircraft was operating a scheduled service from Jeju International Airport (CJU). The plane was on a cruise flight transiting the Yellow Sea when the flight crew declared an emergency. A descent and diversion to Incheon International Airport (ICN) was then carried out.
– News from the aviation source
Based on this information and other flight logs showing that HL8088 did indeed divert to Incheon, some have jumped to conclusions, suggesting that there may have been a mechanical problem with the plane…
Why on earth was this same plane allowed to fly again so soon after an emergency landing yesterday?
—Mark Thomas (@techsportsmark) December 29, 2024
…and also blame the “big corporations put the almighty dollar over human lives.”
It appears the same plane had an emergency landing YESTERDAY. Just another example of big corporations putting the almighty dollar over human lives
— jwallmizzou (@tennisinaloha) December 29, 2024
According to South Korea EKN (Energy Economic News), however, the emergency landing of HL8088 on December 27 had nothing to do with the plane itself.
On December 28, EKN confirmed that Jeju Air flight 7C8135 on Boeing HL8088 aircraft departed from Jeju International Airport at 11:51 am and was supposed to fly over the West Sea, Yantai and Tianjin, but turned towards the international airport of Incheon at 12:17:55 before entering mainland China. Subsequently, at 1.15pm, the captain declared an emergency and shouted “7700”, a transponder code that signals that an aircraft is experiencing a general emergency and requires immediate assistance from air traffic control (ATC).
A representative from the Incheon International Airport Police Investigation Division told EKN: “There was a Chinese passenger who complained of head and chest pain.” A Jeju Air representative added: “[the said] the passenger lost consciousness at that time, resulting in the emergency landing.”
During this process, first aid efforts by the cabin crew helped the passenger regain consciousness. The plane landed at Incheon International Airport at 1.28pm and the passenger was transferred to hospital.
— Jeju water
EKN reported that HL8088 took off from Incheon Airport again at 3.39pm and arrived at Daxing Airport at 4.33pm.
At the time of writing, 120 passengers have been confirmed dead, 2 rescued.
Bangkok-Korea plane crashes at Muan international airport: 120 confirmed dead
