The loyal pet dog of an elderly couple who perished in the Jeju Air disaster has been patiently waiting for its owners to return home, heartbreaking video shows, as South Korea continues to mourn the loss of 179 people in the tragedy.
The grandfather who owned the little dog died alongside his wife, their daughters, their son-in-law and four grandchildren when flight 2216 crash-landed at Muan International Airport on Sunday.
The 79-year-old, identified by his surname Bae, had been to Thailand on his first ever trip abroad to celebrate his 80th birthday with his family, local media reports.
He had been the oldest passenger on the jet, while his five-year-old granddaughter was among the youngest to lose their lives when the plane collided with a concrete wall at the end of the runway.
The whole family was killed, with only one of the daughter’s husbands – who was not able to join the trip – left behind to face the insurmountable loss of his wife and three children.
The small village of Yeonggwang in the south west of the country is now mourning the family, with locals describing the ‘sea of tears’ which have been cried since the news emerged.
Korean media has shared devastating footage from the family home, with Mr Bae’s white dog seen roaming around and looking longingly up the road leading up to the house.
Locals have tried to comfort the animal, with one man telling Chosun TV that he had tried to get it to come to his house with him but that the devoted pet would return to its home each time.
The small dog has been roaming around the village, seemingly looking for its owners
Locals have tried to comfort the animal, with one man telling Chosun TV that he had tried to get it to come to his house with him but that the devoted pet would return to its home each time
Video shows Mr Bae’s white dog seen roaming around and looking longingly up the road leading up to the house
Devastated relatives of passengers who were on board the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft
Mourners react as they pay their respects at a memorial altar for the victims of the Jeju Air plane crash
Kang Ko, 43, and his wife Jin Lee Seon, 37, shared pictures of their first family holiday to Bangkok. The family-of-three lost their lives in the crash
A section of the wall where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crashed and burst into flames
A bereaved relative of the family told of their unimaginable loss. ‘My youngest son-in-law was left alone out of a family of five,’ they told KBC.
‘(The village head) went to Muan Airport yesterday and said that my son-in-law was in danger of death. He said that we should have gone together and died together.’
It is just one of hundreds of tragic stories to have emerged from the disaster, one of South Korea’s deadliest plane crashes, which left all but two of the 181 people on board dead.
Five of the people who died in the tragedy were children under the age of ten, with the youngest, a three-year-old, seen in a picture taken just days earlier as he flew to Thailand for his first foreign holiday.
The boy’s father Kang Ko, 43, and his mother Jin Lee Seon, 37, shared pictures of their trip on Instagram hours before boarding the doomed flight home to South Korea, local media reports.
One of the holiday snaps showed their little boy excitedly looking out of the plane window as they flew into Bangkok, while another heart-breaking post showed the toddler with his passport.
‘My son is going abroad for the first time on a night flight, and his first passport has no stamp!’ Mr Ko captioned the tragic post, which has since been flooded with tributes and messages of condolence for the family.
Mr Ko ad Ms Jin had recently celebrated their wedding anniversary, Dong-A Ilbo reports.
Meanwhile another couple on board, who were in their early 30s, were reported to be newlyweds on their honeymoon to Bangkok after getting married on December 13.
Another couple on board the doomed flight, also in their early 30s, were both journalists.
A child looks on as mourners visit a memorial altar for the victims of the Jeju Air crash
Lee Kwi-sun, who knew a government official of Jeollanam-do Office of Education who died in the Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport, is seen crying at a memorial
Mourners visit a memorial altar to pray for the victims of the Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport
The father of the woman, who had returned to her hometown to become a reporter after graduating from university in Seoul, said that he had got a text from his daughter shortly before the plane took off from Bangkok.
‘My daughter sent me a photo saying that she was boarding a flight to Korea at 3am,’ the devastated father told local media.
‘She said that the flight was delayed by 30-40 minutes and would arrive a bit late, but I didn’t get any response when I contacted her around 9am to ask if she had arrived.’
Meanwhile a son shared his ‘bewilderment’ at the loss of his mother who had just completed her treatment for stomach cancer when she lost her life in the tragedy.
The 50-year-old had been on a golf trip to Bangkok with friends, said to have been her first overseas trip since her honeymoon with her husband who passed away three years ago.
The mother, who had stomach cancer surgery last autumn, had been ill for about a year and had recently finished her treatment, her son told Dong-A Ilbo.
The plane erupted in a fireball after colliding with a concrete wall at Muan International Airport
Investigators including officials from South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB), US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and aircraft manufacturer Boeing stand by the mound where the instrument landing system localizer is located, at the scene where the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft crashed
‘I was relieved that my mother was getting better. She was excited about the trip and told me to have a good trip, but this is how it is.’ She also leaves behind a young daughter.
Tributes have poured in for the many victims, with South Korea in a state of mourning after whole families were wiped out in the air disaster.
Two Thai nationals are also among the dead, one of whom has been identified as a 22-year-old woman named as Sirithon Chaue, whose mother had been waiting for her at Muan airport.
Her relatives said today that she was fulfilling her lifelong dream of flying to Korea, where her mother lives, in the hope of finding a job there as an air hostess.
In the village of Chiang Rai, close to the border with China, family and friends of Sirithon have been mourning since the news of her death emerged.
Her uncle Theerapat Chaue, 37, said: ‘My niece loved Korea. She was going to visit her mother, who has worked there for ten years. She always dreamed of working there as an air hostess.
‘Her mother was waiting at the airport and at first she thought the plane malfunction was minor. But then she saw the videos of what happened on social media. She was in shock and panic.
‘The airline has offered to provide tickets for myself and my two brothers to go to South Korea for the funeral. But we may bring her ashes home.’
Many of those on board the doomed flight had been celebrating the Christmas holidays in Thailand and were returning home.
A man in his sixties told local media that five members of his family had been on the plane, including his sister-in-law, his daughter, her husband and their young children.
Jeon Je-young, whose daughter Mi-sook was one of 179 who died on board Jeju Airlines flight 2216, said he still cannot believe what happened.
Fire and smoke rise from the tail section of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft after the plane crashed and burst into flames
An unverified video grab reportedly of the Jeju Air plane shows a burst of fire coming out of the jet’s right engine supposedly showing the moment a bird struck
A relative of one passenger at Muan International Airport
‘When I saw the accident video, the plane seemed out of control,’ the 71-year-old father said.
‘The pilots probably had no choice but to do it. My daughter, who is only in her mid-40s, ended up like this. This is unbelievable.’
‘The water near the airport is not deep,’ Jeon told Reuters.
‘(There) are softer fields than this cement runway. Why couldn’t the pilot land there instead?’
He added that his daughter was almost home safe, so had seen no reason to call and leave a final message. ‘She was almost home – she thought she was coming home’.
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