Thai embassy in Seoul lowers flag for victims of plane crash
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Thai embassy in Seoul lowers flag for victims of plane crash

Family grieves for daughter in Jeju Air crash

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Mourners at a memorial altar for victims of the Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, on Monday. (Photo: Reuters)
Mourners at a memorial altar for victims of the Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, on Monday. (Photo: Reuters)

The Thai embassy in South Korea has lowered its flag to half-mast in mourning for the passengers and crew killed in the Jeju Air crash.

The embassy said the flag would remain at half-mast until Jan 4.

Jeju Air flight 7C2216 crashed on Sunday, killing 179 people. Only two people aboard the plane survived, both flight attendants.

Two Thai women were among the victims - Jongluk Doungmanee, 45, and Sirithon Chaue, 22.

Sirithon, a student at Bangkok University, was on her way to meet her mother in South Korea. Jongluk was returning to work in South Korea. Sirithon was an undergraduate student in the final year of her studies in airline business management.

The Boeing 737-800 left Suvarnabhumi Airport at 2.29am on Sunday, according to Flightradar 24, a flight tracking service, and crash-landed at Muan International Airport before 9am, skidding off the runway and hitting a wall and bursting into flames.

Officials have cited a bird strike as a possible cause of the tragedy but experts questioned it based on the sudden devastation caused by the crash.

Jongluk's family in Udon Thani province are mourning their loss and want to bring her body home for religious rites.

Boonchuay Duangmanee, 77, said he must come to terms with his 45-year-old daughter's sudden death.

"I can only accept it, make peace with it," he told state broadcaster Thai PBS. "No matter what I do, my daughter won't come back."

He had felt a "sense of unease" when neighbours told him of the Jeju Air crash, he added, as his daughter often travelled with the airline.

Jongluk, the third youngest in the family, had been working in South Korea for seven years and would visit her home in Udon Thani every year.

Mr Boonchuay said he wants to bring his daughter's body home for a proper religious ceremony as other relatives gathered at the family's home.

The accident was the worst for any South Korean airline since a 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that killed more than 200.

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