Concerns have been raised about the safety risk of bringing portable batteries in carry-on luggage for flights, as a lithium-ion battery is suspected as the cause of the fire that destroyed Air Busan’s passenger plane on Tuesday night.
Preliminary investigation into the Air Busan Airbus A321 fire at Gimhae has not found evidence of dangerous items brought on board the twinjet, and no immediate indication that the blaze was terrorism-related.
This comes a month after the Jeju Air plane crash on Dec. 29, 2024, that killed 179 passengers and crew members. It was the worst domestic civil aviation disaster in South Korea's history. The Jeju Air flight, which was returning from Bangkok, Thailand, veered off the runway and collided with a fence.
An Air Busan Airbus A321 burst into flames at Busan Gimhae Airport (PUS) after the aircraft’s tail caught fire before takeoff, according to Yonhap News.
The aviation and railway accident investigation board under the ministry held the meeting with local police, firefighting agencies and the National Forensic Service on Thursday to discuss how to ensure safety in conducting a joint probe, as 35,000 pounds of fuel was stored at the wings of the plane.
Korean authorities state that all 176 occupants of an Air Busan Airbus A321 have escaped after a fire broke out on the twinjet. The aircraft had been scheduled to depart from Gimhae airport for Hong Kong on 28 January.
An Air Busan plane caught fire at Gimhae International Airport in Busan in South Korea on Tuesday and all 169 passengers and seven crew members evacuated without casualties, Yonhap news agency reported,
The incident comes in the wake of 179 people dying when a plane skidded off a runway at a different airport in the country last month.