Black boxes from deadly South Korea plane crash stopped working minutes before impact

Investigators probing South Korea’s deadliest aviation accident in nearly 30 years revealed that the black boxes from Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 stopped recording minutes before the crash that killed 179 passengers and crew. The plane, a Boeing 737-800 flying from Bangkok, belly-landed at Muan International Airport on December 29, erupting into a fiery explosion.

South Korea’s transport ministry announced on Saturday that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) both ceased functioning approximately four minutes before the crash. The ministry stated that it remains unclear why the devices stopped recording but pledged to determine the cause.

“CVR and FDR data are crucial for accident investigations, but various other data and analyses will also contribute to accurately identifying the cause of the accident,” the ministry said.

The CVR was initially analyzed locally before being sent to the United States for verification. The FDR, which was damaged and missing a connector, was also sent to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the U.S. after South Korean authorities failed to extract data from it due to the extent of the damage.

The crash, which left only two survivors, marks South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster since a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 crashed in Guam in 1997, killing 228 people.

The investigation continues, with officials relying on other data sources and analyses to determine the reasons behind the crash and the failure of the black boxes.