Update: At least 120 bodies recovered from Jeju Air crash site

Muan (South Korea), December 29 — At least 120 people were killed when an airliner landed without wheels, veered off the runway and erupted into a fireball as it slammed into a wall at South Korea's Muan International Airport, fire officials said.

Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from Bangkok with 181 people on board, was attempting to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) at the airport in the south of the country, South Korea's transport ministry said.

The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 can be seen in video from local media skidding down the runway with no apparent landing gear before slamming into a wall in an explosion of flame and debris. Other photos showed smoke and fire engulfing parts of the plane.

It is the deadliest air accident involving a South Korean airline in nearly three decades, according to ministry data.

Two crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section of the burning plane, Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun told a briefing.

The fire was extinguished as of 1 p.m., Lee said.

"Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of (the plane) looks almost impossible to recognize," he said.

Authorities have switched from rescue to recovery operations and because of the force of the impact, are searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane, Lee added.

The two crew were being treated at hospitals with medium to severe injuries, said the head of the local public health center.

Hours after the crash, mortuary vehicles were lined up to take bodies away, and authorities said a temporary morgue had been established.

Yonhap news agency cited a fire official as saying most of 175 passengers and six crew were presumed dead.

Authorities had worked to rescue people in the tail section, an airport official told Reuters shortly after the crash.

Investigators are looking into bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors, Lee said.

Yonhap cited airport authorities as saying a bird strike may have caused the landing gear to malfunction.