South Korea’s Choi orders immediate action on aircraft inspection as crash probe ramps up By Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Acting President Choi Sang-mok said on Thursday that immediate action would be taken if a special inspection of all Boeing ( NYSE: ) 737-800 aircraft in operation in the country found any problems, as authorities launched an investigation on Sunday fatal plane crash on the day.

The conversion of Jeju Air 7C2216’s cockpit voice recorder data into an audio file should be completed by Friday, Choi said at a disaster management meeting, which could provide crucial information about the doomed flight’s final minutes.

All 175 passengers and four of the six crew members were killed on Sunday when Jeju Air belly-landed at Muan International Airport in the country’s southwest and crashed into an earth-concrete embankment and burst into flames.

The two crew members who were near the tail of the Boeing 737-800 survived.

“Since there is great public concern about the same model of the plane involved in the accident, the Ministry of Transportation and relevant organizations should conduct a thorough review of operational maintenance, education and training,” Choi said.

Cho’s comments at the start of the meeting were provided by his office.

Questions from air safety experts about what led to the deadly explosion have focused on a dam designed to support navigation equipment, which they say was built too close to the end of the runway.

The plane’s flight data recorder, which suffered some damage, is being flown to the United States for analysis in cooperation with the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Investigators from the NTSB, the US Federal Aviation Administration and plane maker Boeing are in South Korea to help investigate the country’s worst air disaster.

Choi asked for every effort to help the families of the victims as the remains of those killed are handed over to them, and asked the police to take action against anyone posting “malicious” messages and fake news on social media related to the disaster.