Of the 179 people killed in the Jeju Air passenger plane accident that occurred at Muan Airport in South Jeolla Province on the 29th, the identities of 174 have been identified as of the 31st. A thorough investigation will be conducted for the five people whose identities have not yet been revealed.
At a briefing for the families of passengers held at the Muan Airport terminal on this day, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated, "Of the 32 who could not be identified through fingerprint comparison, 17 were identified in the first DNA comparison, and 10 were identified in the second,” adding that “the remaining five are undergoing further detailed investigation due to DNA discrepancies."
Of the 174 identified, the bodies of four victims have been handed over to their families, and funeral procedures have begun in their hometowns. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other relevant authorities are storing the remaining 75 bodies in a temporary mortuary set up at a hangar in Muan Airport. They plan to hand over the bodies to the families as soon as the autopsy and other procedures are completed.
However, only five bodies have been recovered in relatively intact condition. The previous day, the police announced that there were a total of 606 body fragments. The authorities stated that it might take up to 10 days from the date of the accident to recover the bodies and hand them over to the families.
This is the time needed to collect all parts of the victims' bodies and restore them to the most intact condition possible. DNA matching might be required dozens of times per victim. Once this recovery process is complete, the investigative agency will conduct an autopsy, after which the families can receive the bodies.
Park Sang-woo, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, noted in a morning briefing for the families, "If the families wish, we will prepare for the immediate transfer of the 28 bodies today." However, Park stated, "If you want the bodies to be more thoroughly recovered, you may choose to wait." This means that an autopsy certificate can be issued even with only the main parts of the body, without the entire body recovered.