It’s unknown what caused a Jeju Air 737 to crash Sunday at a South Korean airport, but investigators appear to be focusing on reports of a bird strike and a possible landing-gear malfunction on the older Boeing airliner.

A technical team from Boeing Co. and specialists from U.S. aviation agencies were traveling to Korea to assist in the investigation of the crash that killed 179 people. There were no early indications that manufacturing errors were to blame for the crash of the 15-year-old aircraft, a Renton-built 737-800.

Relatives of passengers of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft react near a make-shift shelter at Muan International Airport in Muan, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on December 30, 2024. The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 181 people from Thailand to South Korea when it crashed on arrival on December 29, killing everyone aboard -- save two flight attendants pulled from the twisted wreckage of the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.

The plane arriving from Bangkok skidded off a runway at the Muan airport in the southern part of South Korea, and appeared to have touched down with its landing gear fully retracted. It slammed into a concrete wall and exploded, killing all but two people on board.

The plane was destroyed but investigators have retrieved flight data and cockpit voice records of its black box, according to the Korean transportation ministry. Investigators have said it’s too soon to speculate what may have caused the crash.

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