Bird Feathers, Blood Found in Both Engines of Crashed Jet in South Korea, Source Says

Firefighters remove tarpaulin sheets covering the debris of a Jeju Air passenger plane at Muan International Airport in Muan, southwestern South Korea, 13 January 2025, following its crash on 29 December 2024. (EPA/Yonhap)
Firefighters remove tarpaulin sheets covering the debris of a Jeju Air passenger plane at Muan International Airport in Muan, southwestern South Korea, 13 January 2025, following its crash on 29 December 2024. (EPA/Yonhap)
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Bird Feathers, Blood Found in Both Engines of Crashed Jet in South Korea, Source Says

Firefighters remove tarpaulin sheets covering the debris of a Jeju Air passenger plane at Muan International Airport in Muan, southwestern South Korea, 13 January 2025, following its crash on 29 December 2024. (EPA/Yonhap)
Firefighters remove tarpaulin sheets covering the debris of a Jeju Air passenger plane at Muan International Airport in Muan, southwestern South Korea, 13 January 2025, following its crash on 29 December 2024. (EPA/Yonhap)

Investigators found bird feathers and blood in both engines of the Jeju Air jet that crashed in South Korea last month, killing 179 people, a person familiar with the probe told Reuters on Friday.

The Boeing 737-800 plane, which departed from the Thai capital Bangkok for Muan county in southwestern South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport's runway, bursting into flames after hitting an embankment.

Only two crew members at the tail end of the plane survived the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.

About four minutes before the fatal crash, one of the pilots reported a bird strike and declared an emergency before initiating a go-around and attempting to land on the opposite end of the runway, according to South Korean authorities.

Two minutes before the pilot declared the Mayday emergency call, air traffic control had urged caution due to "bird activity" in the area.

Investigators this month said feathers were found on one of the engines recovered from the crash scene, adding that video footage showed there was a bird strike on an engine.

South Korea's transport ministry declined to comment on whether feathers and blood were found in both engines.

The plane's two black boxes - key to finding out the cause of last month's crash on the jet - stopped recording about four minutes before the accident, posing a challenge to the ongoing investigation.

Sim Jai-dong, a former transport ministry accident investigator, said on Sunday the missing data was surprising and suggested all power, including backup, may have been cut, which is rare.

Bird strikes that impact both engines are also rare occurrences in aviation globally, though there have been successful cases of pilots landing the plane without fatalities in such situations including the "Miracle on the Hudson" river landing in the US in 2009 and a cornfield landing in Russia in 2019.



Putin Urges Iran to Take 'Zero Enrichment' Nuclear Deal with US, Axios Reports

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov in Moscow, Russia July 11, 2025. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov in Moscow, Russia July 11, 2025. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Putin Urges Iran to Take 'Zero Enrichment' Nuclear Deal with US, Axios Reports

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov in Moscow, Russia July 11, 2025. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov in Moscow, Russia July 11, 2025. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told US President Donald Trump and Iranian officials that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, Axios reported on Saturday, citing sources, Reuters reported.

Iran's semi-official news agency Tasnim denied the report, quoting an "informed source" as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.