Feathers and duck remains were found in both engines of the Jeju Air aircraft which crashed in South Korea on 29 December, according to a report released on Monday.
The low-cost airline’s Boeing 737-800 failed to stop in time at Muan airport and collided with a wall. Out of the 181 passengers on board, 179 lost their lives. Only two flight attendants survived.
South Korean investigators found feathers and bloodstains from a baikal teal, a variety of duck, on the engines. The pilots had reported a bird strike shortly before the emergency landing at Muan International Airport in Jeolla province, approximately 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul.
The preliminary report revealed that both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder stopped recording about four minutes before the fatal crash.
Investigators have announced that in the next phase of the investigation, the aircraft’s engines will be dismantled, and individual components will be thoroughly examined.
