Son Chang-wan, former director of Korea Airports Corporation, was found dead at his home in Gunpo, a city located about 22 kilometers south of Seoul, on Tuesday night. According to the Gunpo Police Department, no signs of homicide or forced entry were found, leading authorities to consider the death an apparent suicide.
Son led the state-owned corporation from 2018 to 2022, during which renovations were carried out at Muan International Airport, the site of the December 29 air accident that claimed the lives of 179 people.
Although the renovation works at the airport were conducted under his management, Son is not under investigation in the case, according to a representative from the Jeonnam Provincial Police.
Korea Airports Corporation, which operates more than a dozen airports in South Korea, chose not to issue official comments on his death, describing it as a personal matter.
The Muan tragedy: the worst accident on South Korean soil
The crash of Jeju Air flight 7C-2216 has been deemed the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil. It is also the most lethal aviation accident globally since the Lion Air flight 610 disaster in 2018, which claimed 189 lives.
One of the key focuses of the accident investigation revolves around a concrete structure at Muan Airport that supported an antenna used to guide planes during landing. Jeju Air's Boeing 737 collided at high speed with this structure, causing an explosion that left only two survivors among the passengers and crew.
According to reports from our partner outlet Aeroin, the safety standards of Korea Airports Corporation have come under heavy scrutiny following the accident. Critics argue that if the antenna had been mounted on a lighter support, as is common in other airports, the severity of the crash could have been significantly reduced.
Although government officials assured that the structure met safety standards, an inspection by the Ministry of Transport revealed that seven airports in the country, including Muan, fail to meet certain standards and require upgrades to their facilities.
Measures following the accident
In response to the incident, the Ministry of Transport announced plans to replace the concrete structures with lighter ones designed to break more easily in case of impact. Updates will also be made to airport localization systems, with lighter steel structures being installed, and safety zones at the end of some runways will be expanded.
You might be interested
Meanwhile, a team of aviation experts from South Korea, the United States, and Boeing is investigating the causes of the crash. However, the investigation has been complicated by the failure of the flight recorder, which stopped working minutes before the impact.
AUTOR
AEROIN es el medio líder de aviación en Brasil, y uno de los más leídos del mundo, con el que Aviacionline posee un acuerdo de intercambio editorial. https://www.aeroin.net
Comentarios
Para comentar, debés estar registrado
Por favor, iniciá sesión