Thaindian News

SEOUL (BNO NEWS) — The bodies of two pilots of an Asiana Airlines cargo plane which crashed in the sea off a South Korean island in late July have been recovered, police said on Sunday. The exact causes of the accident remain unclear.

The accident happened on July 28 when a Boeing 747-400 Freighter was flying from Incheon International Airport in South Korea to Shanghai Pudong International Airport in China. Two crew members were on board the cargo plane when it crashed in the sea off South Korea’s Jeju Island, some 107 kilometers (66.4 miles) west of the city of Jeju.

The pilots - 52-year-old Choi Sang-gi and 43-year-old Lee Jeong-wung - remained missing until Saturday when a search team recovered the cockpit of the plane. Their bodies were pulled from the cockpit on early Sunday morning after the debris was taken to the port of Jeju.

“We understand the families of the pilots flew to Jeju Island upon hearing the news from a government probe committee on aviation and train accidents,” an Asiana official told the Yonhap news agency. “We’ll be able to hold funerals after going through DNA tests and all other necessary procedures ruled by the committee.”

The cause of the accident remains unknown as the plane’s black box and voice recorders are still missing. South Korea’s Transport Ministry previously said it suspected an in-flight cargo fire was the cause of the accident, but officials said the assessment was based on contact with air traffic control alone.

A report in the Korea Joongang Daily newspaper several days after the crash cited insurance industry sources as saying that one of the two pilots was found to have taken out seven property and life insurance policies just a month before the fatal accident. As a result, the family is believed to have received 3 billion won ($2.84 million).

While it is not unusual that pilots take life insurance policies, the timing raised questions whether the crash may have been a suicide by one of the pilots. The airline, which has refused to give out information, has not commented on the reports.

There have been several instances of major aviation accidents involving pilot suicide in the past. In October 1999, a total of 217 people were killed when the Relief First Officer aboard EgyptAir Flight 990 deliberately caused the Boeing 767-366ER to crash into the Atlantic Ocean, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Nantucket Island in Massachusetts.

And in December 1997, 104 people were killed when SilkAir Flight 185 crashed into the Musi River near Palembang, Indonesia. Although Indonesian authorities were unable to determine a cause, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined one of the pilots deliberately caused the Boeing 737-36N aircraft to crash.