STORY: :: This report contains content some people may find distressing.

:: Lee Geun-young

One hundred and eighty one people were on board Jeju Air flight 2216 when it crashed in South Korea on Sunday.

Just two crew members have been rescued - with officials suggesting that the rest are presumed dead.

It is the worst ever airline disaster on South Korean soil.

The twin-engine Boeing 737-800 was seen skidding down the runway at Muan International Airport, apparently without landing gear.

It slammed into a wall in an explosion of flames and debris.

South Korean authorities have said they are looking into "bird strikes" as the possible cause of the crash.

ADVERTISEMENT

Muan fire chief Lee Jung-hyun said the surviving crew members, a man and a woman, were rescued from the tail section.

That was the only part of the plane that retained some shape, he said, with the rest "almost impossible to recognize".

Authorities have now switched from rescue to recovery operations, Lee added, saying they were searching nearby areas for bodies possibly thrown from the plane.

Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae has apologized for the accident - bowing deeply during a televised briefing.

He said the aircraft had no record of accidents, and that there were no signs of early malfunction.

Boeing said it stood ready to support Jeju Air and that it extended its "deepest condolences" to the families who had lost loved ones.

At the airport, many of those families waited for news.

Some shouted, some screamed and some loudly wept as an official read out the names of the deceased that had, so far, been identified by their fingerprints.