Investigators of the South Korean airline crash on December 29 that killed 179 people have said the plane's flight recording devices stopped working minutes before the tragedy.
Jeju Air's Boeing 737-800 burst into flames after it belly-landed at Muan International Airport in South Korea, killing all but two people on board.
Newsweek has contacted South Korea's Transport Ministry for comment by email.
Why it matters
The flight recorders hold the key to finding out the cause of South Korea's worst aviation tragedy in nearly three decades. As calls grow for answers, the revelation that the devices did not work is likely to fuel speculation about the crash.
What to know
Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 flying from Bangkok erupted into a fireball after it belly-landed at its destination in Muan International Airport, killing 179 people on board and leaving two survivors.
South Korea's Transport Ministry said on Saturday that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) from the Boeing 737-800 had stopped working four minutes before the crash.
The CVR was first analyzed locally and then sent to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the U.S. for further investigations.
It remains unclear what caused the tragedy, with footage showing that neither the back nor front landing gear on the plane was visible at the time of the crash-landing.
Sim Jai-dong, a former transport ministry accident investigator, said the missing data was surprising and suggests all power, including backup, may have been cut, which is rare, Reuters reported.
The pilot used the terms "bird strike" and "go around" during a mayday call, according to officials who said that the control tower had warned of birds in the area.
The plane hit a concrete embankment upon landing and aviation experts have said that many airports do not have these kinds of structures so close to runways.
As part of the investigation, South Korean police raided Jeju Air's office in Seoul and the operator of Muan International Airport, according to Reuters.
What people are saying
South Korea's Transport Ministry said flight data was "important data for accident investigations, but accident investigations are conducted through investigation and analysis of various data, so we plan to do our best to accurately identify the cause of the accident."
What happens next
South Korea's transport ministry said other data available would be used in the investigation which it has insisted would be transparent.
However, the victims' families have criticized the Transport Ministry for taking the lead in the probe, saying it should involve independent experts, per Reuters.
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