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Police and government officials have already been investigating
the Jeju Air crash, so the complaint is largely seen as a
symbolic step calling for a swifter and more thorough probe.
Many bereaved families complain of what they see as a lack of
meaningful progress in efforts to determine what caused the
disaster and who is responsible.
On Tuesday, 72 bereaved relatives submitted the complaint to the
Jeonnam Provincial Police agency in southern South Korea,
according to their lawyers and police.
The 15 people cited in the complaint include the transport
minister, Jeju Air's president and airline officials handling
maintenance and safety issues, along with officials at Muan
International Airport who are responsible for preventing bird
strikes, air traffic control and facility management, according
to a statement from a lawyers’ group supporting the relatives.
“Four months after the disaster, we can’t help feeling deep
anger and despair over the fact that there has been little
progress” in the investigation, Kim Dae-hye, a bereaved family
member, said in the statement.
Lawyer Lee So-Ah said Wednesday the complaint would formally
require police to brief bereaved families of their
investigation, though police have so far only voluntarily done
so.
The Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air skidded off the runaway
at the Muan airport on Dec. 29 after its landing gear failed to
deploy, slamming into a concrete structure and bursting into
flames.
Authorities have since said they found traces of bird strike in
the plane’s engines and that the plane’s two black boxes stopped
recording about 4 minutes before the crash. Many analysts said
the concrete structure, which housed a set of antennas called a
localizer that guides aircraft during landings, should have been
built with lighter materials that could break more easily upon
impact.
But no exact cause of the crash has been announced and no one
has been legally persecuted yet over the crash, the country’s
deadliest aviation disaster since 1997.
Jeonnam Provincial Police agency officials said they’ve been
investigating the accident. They suggested a complex incident
like the Jeju Air crash would require a lengthy investigation
but declined to say when they expect to wrap up their probe.
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