THE haunting first words of a cabin crew worker who survived a plane crash that killed 179 have been revealed.
Two airline workers narrowly avoided death when the doomed Jeju Air plane skidded off the runway and smashed into a concrete barrier on Sunday in South Korea.
The wreckage of the passenger plane[/caption]
It erupted into a fireball after crashing into a wall[/caption]
They were the sole survivors out of the 181 on board.
A 33-year-old male flight attendant, who has only been identified by his surname, Lee, was rushed to hospital after the disaster.
According to his doctors, he woke up disorientated and asked: “What happened, why am I here”.
He told medics he had been wearing a seatbelt before the crash, but could not remember anything after that.
It is understood Lee was in charge of passenger service at the back of the Boeing 737-800.
He suffered a fractured left shoulder and injuries to his head and was rushed to a hospital in Mokpo before being transferred to Ewha Woman’s University Hospital in Seoul, where he woke up.
Meanwhile the 25-year-old female flight attendant who also survived is being treated for scalp lacerations and ankle fractures at Asan Medical Center in eastern Seoul.
Investigators are desperately trying to piece together what caused the harrowing crash – one of the worst aviation disasters in South Korea’s history.
The passenger plane is thought to have hit a bird on its approach to Muan International Airport – crippling the plane’s landing gear.
Several attempts to land were aborted by the pilot before a final decision was made to attempt it.
The aircraft quickly slammed into the tarmac as the pilot tried to land safely.
But the pilot’s heroic landing was all in vain as it continued to speed off the end of the runway before smashing into a concrete wall.
The plane instantly exploded with the structure “which should not have been there” at the end of the 2,800-metre runway.
The wall is believed to have helped to detonate the killer fireball by rupturing fuel tanks.