South Korea, Dec 31: On the morning of the tragic crash of Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, Lee Geun-young, a restaurant owner near Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea, was preparing to open his eatery, which specializes in mud-flat octopus, a local delicacy.
Half an hour later, Lee became one of the first witnesses to capture footage of the crash, which claimed the lives of all but two of the 181 people on board. In an interview with The New York Times, Lee spoke about the overwhelming shock and distress he experienced from witnessing the event.
His restaurant, located about 330 yards from the airport, sits near the southern end of the runway, offering a clear view of incoming flights. Lee, 48, recalled it was a sunny morning, with birds visible on a nearby beach, when he heard what he described as “bangs” at around 8:57 a.m.
“It sounded like incomplete combustion from motorbikes, but louder and unfamiliar,” he said. “I often hear guns being fired to chase away the birds, as well as noise from construction work, but never had I heard that kind of sound. It felt strange.”
Suspicious of the noise, Lee left his kitchen and went outside to investigate. Looking up at the sky, he saw the plane, unusually low and flying directly above his restaurant rather than over the runway. “The plane was tilted a bit to the right,” he said. “It looked to me like it was about to land, but toward my restaurant instead of the runway.”
At that moment, Lee decided to go to the roof of his restaurant to get a better view. From there, he filmed the first video of the plane, which appeared to make a sharp U-turn as it ascended. “I felt that something was definitely wrong with the plane,” Lee recalled. “That’s why I decided to take a video.”
Seconds after the crash, Lee was struck by a rush of heat, similar to the sensation of opening a sauna door. He thought to himself, “Do I need to get out of here?”
“I saw two or three more explosions,” he continued. “The first blast was so big that I could see fragments spurting. When the smaller blasts occurred, I only saw smoke and flames.”
Feeling the heat and seeing the destruction unfold, Lee moved to a rooftop closer to the airport, where he shot additional footage. The smoke and flames persisted as firefighters struggled to reach the site, spraying water from a distance of about 100 feet.
“I couldn’t sleep last night,” Lee said, his voice breaking. “Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing afterimages of the blast. I stared at my phone, watching the news, unable to sleep. When I finally spoke to my wife on the phone, I felt a little better, but every time I see the footage or read about the crash, I choke up.”
Lee’s emotional struggle, compounded by the haunting images of the crash, reflects the deep impact such an event has on those who witness it firsthand.
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