Muan (South Korea), Dec 29 (Agency) The bodies of all 179 passengers and crew killed in what is believed to be South Korea’s worst air disaster in decades have been retrieved from the wreckage, South Korean media reported on Sunday. Only two of the 181 people on board survived the deadly crash. They are a male and a female member of the plane crew, who were taken to a hospital with injuries of various degrees of severity, Yonhap news agency reported. Acting South Korean President Choi Sang-mok declared a week of national mourning from December 29 to January 4.
Flags on all government and local authorities’ offices will be flown at half-mast, and all government officials will be required to wear mourning bands on their uniforms, Choi said. Rescuers retrieved two black boxes—flight and voice data recorders—from the crash site, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. The commission for the investigation of aviation and railway accidents will establish the detailed circumstances of the incident, including its causes and events leading up to it, the ministry added.