South Korea plane crash: Why was there a wall near the runway?

“The fuel is kept in the wings so once the wing ruptures, then the potential for fire is significant.

“So it’s not a given that if the wall had not been there, it would have been a completely different outcome.”

Mr Kingswood said he would be “surprised if the airfield hadn’t met all the requirements in accordance with industry standards”.

“I suspect if we went around the airfields at a lot of major international airports… we would find a lot of obstacles that could similarly be accused of presenting a hazard,” he added.

However former pilot John Cox, chief executive of Safety Operating Systems, said the runway design “absolutely (did) not” meet industry best practices, which preclude any hard structure within at least 300m (984ft) of the end of the runway.

Following the crash, it emerged that remarks in Muan International Airport’s operating manual, uploaded early in 2024, said the concrete embankment was too close to the end of the runway.

The document, prepared by Korea Airports Corp, recommended the location of the equipment be reviewed during a planned expansion.

South Korea’s director-general for airport policy, Kim Hong-rak, said the government would “review the relevant regulations and their application”.

Aviation analyst Sally Gethin questioned whether the pilot knew the barrier was there, particularly given the plane was approaching from the opposite direction from the usual landing approach.

She told BBC News: “We need to know, were (the pilots) aware there was this hard boundary at the end?

“If they were directed by the control tower to reverse the use of the runway the second time around, that should come out in the investigation of the black boxes.

“I think there are so many questions.”