(Bloomberg) -- A Jeju Air Co. plane landing in South Korea crashed on an airport runway and caught fire, killing at least 85 people.
Flight 2216 was carrying 175 passengers and 6 crew members from Bangkok when the accident happened at Muan International Airport in the country's south, according to officials. Two people were rescued.
The accident stands to become the worst passenger airline disaster in South Korea in more than 20 years, and takes place against the backdrop of a deepening political crisis in Seoul after the president provoked public outrage by briefly imposing martial law.
The disaster took place at around 9 a.m. local time on Sunday and was caused by the Boeing 737 jet veering off the runway and hitting a wall, according to news agency Yonhap.
The plane was not a Max jet, a model involved in two fatal crashes, Flightradar24 data showed.
Founded in 2005, Jeju Air operates 42 aircraft, according to its website. The company pledged to provide all necessary support to the victims and their families.
The death toll from the Jeju Air crash would be the highest in South Korea since an Air China plane crashed near Busan in 2002, killing 129 people, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
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