SEOUL, South Korea – A passenger plane burst into flames on Sunday after it skidded off the runway at a South Korean airport and crashed into a concrete fence, apparently because its front landing gear failed to extend. At least 85 people were killed, officials said, in one of the country’s worst air disasters.

According to the National Fire Agency, rescue workers tried to remove people from the Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people at the airport in the city of Muan, about 180 miles south of Seoul. The Transportation Ministry identified the plane as a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet and said the crash occurred at 9:03 a.m. local time.

At least 85 people – 46 women and 39 men – died in the fire, the agency said. Rescue workers pulled out two survivors, both crew members, and local health officials said they remained conscious. According to the authorities, 32 fire engines and several helicopters are being used to contain the fire.

Footage of the crash broadcast by television channel YTN showed the Jeju Air plane skidding down the runway, apparently with the landing gear still closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the edge of the facility. Other television networks broadcast videos showing thick black smoke billowing from the plane as it was engulfed in flames.

Lee Jeong-hyeon, head of the Muan Fire Station, said at a televised news conference that rescue workers were continuing to search for bodies scattered by the impact. The plane was destroyed, only the tail unit was visible in the rubble, he said.

Workers are investigating what led to the crash, including whether the plane was struck by birds, causing mechanical problems, Lee said. Senior Transportation Ministry official Joo Jong-wan separately told reporters that government investigators had arrived at the scene to investigate the cause of the crash and fire.

Rescue workers in Muan said the plane’s landing gear appeared to have malfunctioned. The transport ministry said the plane was returning from Bangkok and the passengers included two Thai nationals.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed his deep condolences to the families of the victims of the accident. Paetongtarn said in a post on social media platform X that she had instructed the Foreign Ministry to provide immediate assistance.

Jeju Air expressed its “deep apologies” for the crash in a statement and said it would “do its utmost to deal with the consequences of the accident.”

It is one of the deadliest disasters in South Korean aviation history. The last time South Korea experienced a major aviation disaster was in 1997, when a Korean Airline plane crashed in Guam, killing 228 people on board. In 2013, a Seoul-based Asiana Airlines plane crashed in San Francisco, killing three people and injuring about 200.

Sunday’s accident was also one of the worst landing disasters, according to data, since the July 2007 crash that killed all 187 people on board and 12 others on the ground when an Airbus A320 skidded off a slippery runway in Sao Paulo, killing one nearby building collided by the Flight Safety Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to improving aviation safety.

The crash came amid a huge political crisis in South Korea, sparked by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s surprise declaration of martial law earlier this month and subsequent impeachment. Last Friday, South Korean lawmakers impeached incumbent President Han Duck-soo and suspended him from office, leading to Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok taking over.

Choi ordered officials to use all available resources to rescue the plane’s passengers and crew before flying to Muan. Yoon’s office said his chief secretary, Chung Jin-suk, would chair an emergency meeting of senior presidential aides later on Sunday to discuss the crash.

Kim and Tong-Hyung write for the Associated Press.