The loyal pet dog of an elderly couple who died in the Jeju Air disaster has been waiting patiently for its owners to return home, heartbreaking video shows, as South Korea continues to mourn the loss of 179 people in the tragedy.
The grandfather who owned the dog died along with his wife, daughters, son-in-law and four grandchildren when Flight 2216 crashed at Muan International Airport on Sunday.
The 79-year-old man, identified by his last name Bae, had been in Thailand on his first trip abroad to celebrate his 80th birthday with his family, local media report.
He was the oldest passenger on the plane, while his five-year-old granddaughter was one of the youngest to lose their lives when the plane hit a concrete wall at the end of the runway.
The entire family was killed, and only one of the daughter’s husbands, who could not join the trip, was left behind to face the insurmountable loss of his wife and three children.
The small town of Yeonggwang, in the south-west of the country, is now mourning the family, with locals describing the “sea of tears” they have cried since the news broke.
Korean media have shared devastating images of the family home, showing Mr Bae’s white dog wandering and looking longingly at the path leading to the house.
Locals have tried to comfort the animal, and one man told Chosun TV that he had tried to get it to come home with him, but the devoted pet returned home each time.
The little dog has been wandering around town, apparently looking for his owners.
Locals have tried to comfort the animal, and one man told Chosun TV that he had tried to get it to come home with him, but the devoted pet returned home each time.
The video shows Mr. Bae’s white dog wandering around and looking longingly at the path leading to the house.
Devastated relatives of passengers aboard Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 plane
Mourners react as they pay their respects at a memorial altar for the victims of the Jeju Air plane crash.
Kang Ko, 43, and his wife Jin Lee Seon, 37, shared photos from their first family vacation in Bangkok. A family of three lost their lives in the accident
A section of the wall where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series plane crashed and burst into flames.
A grieving family relative spoke of their unimaginable loss. “My youngest son-in-law was left alone in a family of five,” they told KBC.
‘(The village chief) went to Muan airport yesterday and said that my son-in-law was in danger of death. He said we should have gone together and died together.
It is just one of hundreds of tragic stories to emerge from the disaster, one of South Korea’s deadliest plane crashes, which left all but two of the 181 people on board dead.
Five of the people who died in the tragedy were children under the age of ten; The youngest, three years old, appears in a photograph taken a few days earlier while flying to Thailand for his first vacation abroad.
The boy’s father, Kang Ko, 43, and mother, Jin Lee Seon, 37, shared photos of their trip on Instagram hours before boarding the doomed flight home to South Korea, local media report.
One of the holiday snaps showed her little boy looking excitedly out the plane window as they flew to Bangkok, while another heartbreaking post showed the boy holding his passport.
‘My son is traveling abroad for the first time on a red-eye flight and his first passport has no stamp!’ Ko captioned the tragic post, which has since been flooded with tributes and messages of condolence to the family.
Mr. Ko and Ms. Jin had recently celebrated their wedding anniversary, Dong-A Ilbo reports.
Meanwhile, another couple on board, who were in their early 30s, were reported to be newlyweds on their honeymoon in Bangkok after tying the knot on December 13.
Another couple on board the doomed flight, also in their 30s, were both journalists.
A child watches as mourners visit a memorial altar for the victims of the Jeju plane crash
Lee Kwi-sun, who knew a government official from the Jeollanam-do Education Bureau who died in the Jeju plane crash at Muan International Airport, is seen crying at a memorial.
Mourners visit a memorial altar to pray for the victims of the Jeju plane crash at Muan International Airport.
The woman’s father, who had returned to his hometown to become a reporter after graduating from university in Seoul, said he received a text message from his daughter shortly before the plane took off from Bangkok.
“My daughter sent me a photo saying she was boarding a flight to Korea at 3 in the morning,” the devastated father told local media.
“She said the flight was delayed by 30 to 40 minutes and she would be a little late, but I didn’t get any response when I contacted her around 9am to ask if she had arrived.”
Meanwhile, a son shared his “bewilderment” at the loss of his mother, who had just completed her treatment for stomach cancer when she lost her life in the tragedy.
The 50-year-old had been on a golf trip to Bangkok with friends, in what was said to be her first trip abroad since her honeymoon with her husband, who died three years ago.
The mother, who underwent surgery for stomach cancer last fall, had been ill for about a year and had recently finished her treatment, her son told Dong-A Ilbo.
The plane burst into a fireball after hitting a concrete wall at Muan International Airport.
Investigators, including officials from South Korea’s Aviation and Railroad Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB), the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and aircraft manufacturer Boeing, stand next to the mound where the instrument landing system locator is located, in the place where the Jeju Air Boeing 737 was located. -800 planes crashed
‘I was relieved that my mother was getting better. She was excited about the trip and told me to have a good trip, but that’s how it is.’ He also leaves behind a young daughter.
Tributes have poured in for the many victims, and South Korea is in mourning after entire families were wiped out in the air disaster.
Also among the dead were two Thai nationals, one of whom has been identified as a 22-year-old woman named Sirithon Chaue, whose mother was waiting for her at Muan airport.
Her relatives said today that she was fulfilling a lifelong dream of flying to Korea, where her mother lives, in the hope of finding a job as a flight attendant there.
In the town of Chiang Rai, near the Chinese border, Sirithon’s family and friends have been mourning since news of his death broke.
Her uncle Theerapat Chaue, 37, said: “My niece loved Korea. He was going to visit his mother, who has worked there for ten years. She always dreamed of working there as a stewardess.
‘His mother was waiting at the airport and at first thought the plane malfunction was minor. But then he saw the videos of what happened on social media. I was in shock and panic.
‘The airline has offered to provide tickets for me and my two brothers to go to South Korea for the funeral. But we can bring his ashes home.
Many of the people aboard the doomed flight had been celebrating the Christmas holidays in Thailand and were returning home.
A man in his sixties told local media that five members of his family were on the plane, including his sister-in-law, his daughter, her husband and their young children.
Jeon Je-young, whose daughter Mi-sook was one of the 179 people who died aboard Jeju Airlines Flight 2216, said she still can’t believe what happened.
Fire and smoke rise from the tail section of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft after the plane crashed and burst into flames.
An unverified video from the Jeju Air plane reportedly shows a burst of fire coming from the plane’s right engine, purportedly showing the moment a bird crashed.
A family member of a passenger at Muan International Airport
“When I saw the video of the accident, the plane seemed to be out of control,” said the 71-year-old father.
‘The pilots probably had no choice but to do so. My daughter, who is only about 40 years old, ended up like this. This is incredible.”
“The water near the airport is not deep,” Jeon told Reuters.
‘(There are) softer fields than this cement track. Why couldn’t the pilot land there?
He added that his daughter was almost safe at home, so he had seen no reason to call and leave a final message. “He was almost home; he thought he was coming home.”