Black boxes data missing from last four minutes of crashed South Korean passenger jet

The achromatic boxes holding the formation information and cockpit dependable recorders of a South Korean rider pitchy that crashed, sidesplitting 179 people, stopped signaling 4 minutes earlier the disaster, officials person said.

Jeju Air 7C2216, a Boeing 737-800 jet, was flying from the Thai superior of Bangkok to Muan, South Korea, connected 29 December erstwhile it crash-landed, skidding disconnected the runway into a partition and exploding into flames.

Of the 175 passengers and six unit members connected board, lone 2 unit survived and were pulled from the wreckage astatine Muan International Airport, astir 180 miles southbound of Seoul.

Authorities investigating the disaster program to look into what caused the achromatic boxes to halt recording, South Korea's transport ministry said successful a connection connected Saturday.

The dependable recorder was initially analysed successful South Korea. When information was recovered to beryllium missing, it was sent to a US National Transportation Safety Board laboratory, the ministry said.

The damaged formation information recorder was besides taken to the United States for investigation successful practice with the US information regulator.

Sim Jai-dong, a erstwhile transport ministry mishap investigator, said the discovery of the missing information from the important last minutes was surprising.

He added it suggests each powerfulness - including backup - whitethorn person been cut, which is rare.

Read much from Sky News:
'Most destructive' fires successful modern US history
UK records coldest January nighttime successful 15 years
Tom Holland's dada confirms son's engagement

The pilots told aerial postulation power the aircraft had suffered a vertebrate strike and declared an exigency astir 4 minutes earlier it crashed.

Earlier this week, pb researcher Lee Seung-yeol said feathers were recovered successful 1 of the engines recovered from the clang scene.

He added video footage showed determination was a vertebrate onslaught connected 1 of the engines.

While authorities antecedently said they suspected a vertebrate onslaught whitethorn person played a relation successful the crash, it has not yet been confirmed wherefore the landing cogwheel was not deployed, oregon what led to the crash-landing.

The level exploded seemingly portion colliding with a concrete wall astatine the extremity of the runway, and experts person questioned wherefore it was there.

Police are besides investigating however the airfield partition the level deed was constructed.