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Funerals mostly conclude, but mourning continues for families of Jeju Air disaster

Published: 08 Jan. 2025, 15:34

LEE SOO-JUNG
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Visitors pay respect and express their condolences at a memorial altar for victims of the deadly Jeju Air crash in central Seoul on Jan. 5. [YONHAP]

Nearly all the victims of the Jeju Air disaster have been laid to rest as of Wednesday, 10 days after the worst aviation disaster on Korean soil.

On Wednesday, the coffins of three family members, including a parent who worked for the pro baseball club Kia Tigers and their three-year-old son, were carried out in Gwangju. The child was the youngest victim.

This family was the last to be retrieved among the 179 victims. They had been on their first overseas vacation to Thailand to celebrate the Kia Tigers’ KBO championship victory and tragically died while returning home aboard Jeju Air flight 7C2216, which had departed from Bangkok.

Sticky notes with messages to victims from bereaved relatives are posted on glass along the stairs in Muan International Airport in South Jeolla on Jan. 6. [YONHAP]

While funeral ceremonies for 179 lost souls have almost come to an end, written messages from bereaved relatives continue to be posted on walls and windows of the airport.

Among 129 undelivered letters, “I love you” was the most frequent message — written 84 times. It was followed by “Rest in peace” and “Hope you are happy now,” written 31 times. “I am sorry” was written 22 times, according to Yonhap News Agency.

A wife who lost her husband wrote about her sadness that she never had a chance to say goodbye to him, adding, “I love you, and I loved you a lot.” She also wrote, “You lived and worked hard for our family, and now I cannot cope with the tragedy that happened to you.”

“Dad, I thank you so much, and I love you so much,” a daughter who lost her father wrote. “I really wanted to show you how I grew up as an independent adult and give you an allowance [as a dutiful daughter]. Now, please watch my life from the sky or sea.”

A mother who lost her daughter wrote, “I am sorry that I had to let you go far away while being unable to say ‘I love you.’” She wrote that her phone notification kept ringing to notify her of the automatic monthly allowance from her daughter, adding, “My beautiful and caring daughter is now gone.”

“My beloved daughter, I hope you can be happy in the other world, please,” wrote another mother whose daughter died. “I love you, from mom.”

Authorities are planning to preserve their letters as they are until memorial spaces for victims are established, Yonhap News Agency reported. They are also continuing efforts to return belongings collected from the accident site and the victims' cars in the airport's parking lot.

Authorities investigate and clear the Jeju Air crash site at Muan International Airport in South Jeolla on Jan. 8. [YONHAP]

On Wednesday, the government said that a joint probe team of U.S. and Korean aviation experts is investigating the plane's engines and wings at the site of the accident.

During a meeting at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, acting Interior Minister Ko Ki-dong said the plane's flight data recorder had safely arrived in the United States for decoding. Korean investigative authorities and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board have begun extracting data from the equipment.

Ko said investigation developments and results "would be disclosed as transparently as possible.”

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, CHO MOON-KYU [[email protected]]