Police searches come as aviation authorities are probing the cause of the deadliest air disaster on South Korean soil.
Police in South Korea have raided Muan international airport, the offices of Jeju Air and a regional aviation body amid investigations into the deadliest-ever air disaster on South Korean soil.
The Jeonnam Provincial Police Agency carried out the “search and seizure operation” at the three locations on Thursday morning, officials said.
The raids come as aviation authorities, including officials from the United States, are probing the cause of the deadly crash of Jeju Air Flight 2216 on Sunday, which killed 179 of 181 people on board.
South Korean authorities said on Wednesday that they extracted the initial data from one of the Boeing 737-800’s two black boxes, with the other to be sent to the US for analysis due to damage it suffered in the crash.
South Korean officials have launched an inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft in operation as well as a wider probe of the country’s entire airline operations.
South Korean acting president, Choi Sang-mok, said on Thursday that immediate action must be taken if the inspections revealed any problems with the aircraft model.
“As there’s great public concern about the same aircraft model involved in the accident, the transport ministry and relevant organisations must conduct a thorough inspection of operation maintenance, education, and training,” Choi said.
Aviation experts have raised a series of possible causes and contributing factors in the disaster, including a collision with birds, mechanical failure, and the presence of a hardened embankment less than 300 metres (328 yards) from the end of the runway.
The Boeing 737-800 belly-landed on the runway, without its landing gear deployed, shortly after the pilot reported a bird strike to air traffic control, before skidding into a concrete embankment and exploding into flames.
The crash was the deadliest accident involving a South Korean airline since a Korean Air Boeing 747 crashed into a Guam hillside in 1997, killing 228 people.
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