hello, i'm... welcome to bbc news with me lukwesa burak. a period of national mourning has begun in south korea after a plane carrying 181 people crashed, killing all the passengers on board. only two people — who were flight crew — survived after the aircraft burst into flames. the flight from thailand, operated byjeju air, was landing when it skidded off the runway and hit a wall at muan international airport in the south—west. authorities say a bird strike may have caused the disaster. our correspondent, jean mackenzie, sent this report. i should warn you, there are some distressing images from the start.

this, the terrifying moment the plane lands at speed without its landing gear down and careers down the runway, unable to stop before crashing into the perimeter wall. it explodes, instantly engulfed by flames and thick smoke. none of the passengers stood a chance of surviving, the fire service told their families, as their bodies were slowly recovered. only the two air stewards at the back made it off alive and to hospital. we're at the perimeter of the airport now, and this fence behind us — and wall — is what the plane crashed into when it overshot the runway. and just behind me, you can see the blackened charred tail of the plane sticking up. now, this is the only part of the aircraft that is still intact — the rest has been so fractured and splintered that the fire service have said that it's unidentifiable. inside the airport terminal, the families gathered

to hear the terrible news. anguished scream this is now a room full of incomprehensible heartbreak as they wait for the bodies to be identified. for mr mang, it was the first time his great—nephews had ever been abroad. they'd gone to celebrate the youngest taking his college entrance exams, he tells me. "their father took them. "the boys were so smart, and he wanted to treat them. "i can't believe the entire family has just disappeared. "my heart aches so much." the head of the airline has expressed his deep regret — this is the first fatal crash in his budget carrier's 20—year history. translation: i want to give my sincere apology| and condolences to those who've lost their lives in the accident and their families. at the moment, it's hard to presume the cause of the accident, and we have to wait for the official investigation result from the authorities. it's thought the pilot

couldn't activate the plane's landing gear. initial reports suggest a bird might have caused a fire in one of the engines. as the sun set, forensic teams were still searching the surrounding fields, while fire crews and engineers surveyed the little that's left of the wreckage — hoping to answer the many, many questions for a crash that's yet to make sense. jean mackenzie reporting. and so, seven days of national mourning have now begun in south korea. speaking earlier, acting president choi sang—mok said, "we have a grave situation "where a great loss of life occurred. "i express my deepest condolences "to the many victims. "i will do all i can for the injured to "quickly recover." leaders from around the world have also been expressing their condolences. the chinese president, xijinping, said...

the uk prime minister, sir keir starmer, sent his "deepest condolences" sir keir starmer, sent his to the victims and families and paid tribute to the work of the emergency responders. and in the past hour, president biden has said he's "deeply saddened" by the korean crash, and he offered the united states�* assistance. yuna ku from the bbc�*s korea service says muan international airport remains busy as officials work to identify bodies. you can see so many people, especially hundreds of families of the bereaved and government officials to aid them, still inside the airport. as you can see from my back, there are emergency shelters set up inside the airport to support those families who are staying up all night inside the airport. they are staying inside the airport because they are still waiting for the government authorities to identify the casualties.

only a few hours ago, the government announced that there are total 179 deaths among 181 passengers who were inside the plane. however, dozens of them still need to be identified and these families are waiting for the identification results. let's stay with this story and... let's speak to anthony venetz, former airline safety investigator and pilot. hello, welcome to the programme. so we are beginning to learn a few more details about what may have happened. we are waiting to get the information from the black box. what is key in trying to work out the cause, the true cause of this tragedy?— out the cause, the true cause of this tragedy? good evening, lukwesa burak. _

of this tragedy? good evening, lukwesa burak. the _ of this tragedy? good evening, lukwesa burak. the black- of this tragedy? good evening, l lukwesa burak. the black boxes contain the copy of voice recorders and direct flight recorders, they are going to really be telling the story here as to why the aircraft came to land in the configuration it did, with the wheels up and at the speed it did. and reports of potential bird strike could have contributed to that. i mean, we have the potential for a catastrophic engine failure as a result of a bird strike, where you could imagine a scenario where uncontained pieces of engine debris could disrupt the hydraulic system and without that hydraulic system, your gear extension system, your gear extension system wouldn't work. however, there is a manual gear extension which is independent of that, so why that wasn't able to be actioned and have the landing gear extended for the landing gear extended for

the landing, that will certainly be a key question that needs to be answered. find that needs to be answered. and the did, that needs to be answered. and they did. the — that needs to be answered. and they did, the pilot touched down at speed. i mean, that plane was not slowing down, it was maintaining the speed will stop is that normal, is that advised? i mean, could he have stayed airborne for a little bit longer? or... i mean, what would a pilot normally be trained to do in that situation?— trained to do in that situation? , , ., , situation? is, it is really difficult _ situation? is, it is really difficult to _ situation? is, it is really difficult to say _ situation? is, it is really difficult to say at - situation? is, it is really difficult to say at this i situation? is, it is really i difficult to say at this point exactly what has happened, but to speculate on that sort of theory that there was potentially a loss of the hydraulic system, we can see in the landing footage that the speed brakes, the spoilers that normally extend out of the top of the wing on landing and also the leading edge slats and the flaps don't appear to have extended and that would be an indication that the hydraulic system had failed. in that case, the aircraft is going to have to land faster than normal because the normal flaps are

not available. and that could have been one of the reasons why the landing was as fast as it was. �* ., it was. and the other thing that peeple _ it was. and the other thing that people are _ it was. and the other thing that people are looking - it was. and the other thing that people are looking at| it was. and the other thing l that people are looking at is once on the landing strip, once once on the landing strip, once on the runway, wasn't a particularly short runway? i mean, the video that we have access to, you can see the plane coming on quite fast before it hits the wall. what can you tell us about that runway and that all at the end? is that normal, is that something you would have experienced as pilot? it is not a particularly _ experienced as pilot? it is not a particularly short _ experienced as pilot? it is not a particularly short runway - experienced as pilot? it is not a particularly short runway forj a particularly short runway for that aircraft type and for that operation. and some aerodromes do have configurations where there are obstacles of the end of the runways. i am sure the runway would have met the normal international standards for that sort of operation. but obviously, having obstacles like that, it is not, it is not

impossible to see that at many aerodromes around the world. 0k, aerodromes around the world. ok, anthony venetz, thank you very much indeed.— georgian police have clashed with protesters in tbilisi, who've denounced the newly inaugurated president as illegitimate. the demonstrators blew whistles and waved red cards, a reference to the new president's previous career as a footballer. police used force to detain some of the proteters. some of the protestors. mikheil kavelashvili was sworn in behind closed doors in a parliamentary session boycotted by the opposition. known for his anti—western stance, the new president spoke of the importance of georgian traditions, values and national identity. the outgoing president, salome zourabichvili, left the presidential palace, but insists she is still the legitimate holder of the office of president. translation: six years ago i swore allegiance to you on the constitution.

and this allegiance will not change. wherever i am, in the palace or outside the palace, i will come out of here to you, and i will be with you. legitimacy comes from one source. and that source is you. and where there is no trust of the people, there will be no legitimacy. a short time ago, i spoke to tinatinjaparidze, who is a geopolitical risk analyst at eurasia group. she described what she thinks might be next for georgia. i wish i could agree with... that this is it, this is the reality and the cards that the georgian people have been dealt and now that we are awakening in this new reality, we have to accept it. if nothing else, what we observed earlier was a split screen reality in motion. on one side we have the

georgian dream's de facto parliament that conducted a closed—door ceremony to... its candidate, mikhail kavelashvili, which is a real life... of its... and on the other hand we see thousands of children steadfastly taking to the streets proclaiming their unwavering support for president salome zourabichvili as their sole representative both at home and abroad. i'm afraid that this reality will continue over the coming weeks, which makes all this very difficult and a very painful pill to swallow, but ultimately georgia's isolation from the west is no longer a looming threat, but a reality orchestrated by mikheil kavelashvili and his cabinet. in this situation many pro—western parties just haven't taken part in cabinet sessions, they have boycotted them. what will do that due to them. what will do that due to the running of the government and the country?— and the country? well, the problem — and the country? well, the problem is _ and the country? well, the problem is that _ and the country? well, the problem is that the - and the country? well, the - problem is that the government cannot run in this current

reality. the economy cannot run. the wheel cannot keep turning. and ultimately, over time, it will become very, very difficult for the country to function, for its economy to function, for its economy to function properly and at the end of the day, the georgian dream government will have to admit that they are unable to continue functioning as usual. the situation will remain fluid, but one thing is certain. that a return to business as usual is no longer feasible for the georgian dream. the party cannot merely retract its policy decisions any more and expect the protests to subside. so in some ways, the leadership and the country as a whole is facing a dead end. so holding new elections is the only viable way out of this political crisis. weight preliminary results in croatia's presidential election show its controversial incumbent zoran milanovic is set to win in the first round. the pro—russian politician,

who has been compared to donald trump due to his populist style, is a critic of both the eu and nato. he is likely to be a thorn in the side of prime minister andrej plenkovic, despite the presidency being a mostly ceremonial position. let's show you the scenes live from the social democrat headquarters in zagreb. this, of course, they are in opposition, this is the party of the incumbent president, zoran milanovic. just looking at some of these figures that are coming out, on the basis being reported by reuters, around 51.61 polling stations have had some results. it does seem so far that mr zoran milanovic is leading with 50.11% of the vote. so he is seeking a second term. and the

image there is the social democrats' headquarters in zagreb. let's now speak to viseslav raos, associate professor of comparative politics at the university of zagreb. hello and welcome to the programme. hello and welcome to the programme-— hello and welcome to the programme. tell programme. good evening. tell us what is _ programme. good evening. tell us what is unfolding _ programme. good evening. tell us what is unfolding tonight. . us what is unfolding tonight. should he win, what does this mean? ~ , , mean? well, he is winning, but robabl mean? well, he is winning, but probably not — mean? well, he is winning, but probably not in _ mean? well, he is winning, but probably not in the _ mean? well, he is winning, but probably not in the first - probably not in the first round. the latest results show him to be at 49% and we have over 96% of polling stations reporting already. this is a somewhat underwhelming result for the prime minister because their candidate was expected to win at least 25% of the vote in the first round. we can actually say that there is voter fatigue actually say that there is voterfatigue in actually say that there is

voter fatigue in croatia because this was the third election in the same year for creations, so european elections, parliamentary elections, parliamentary elections and now presidential elections, which are actually second order elections, so sometimes they will use them to actually just sometimes they will use them to actuallyjust punish the government and this is what is happening tonight. i wouldn't say that the incumbent president is pro—russian, but he is definitely not on the same wavelength as the government on foreign policy and support for ukrainian war efforts. he has actually exploited some of the settlements in the country where some people think that support is too strong for ukraine and he has actually amassed support from... as well, he is not a typical social democratic politician any more. social democratic politician any more-— social democratic politician any more. social democratic politician an more. ., , any more. 0k. the rollers, you have touched _ any more. 0k. the rollers, you have touched on _ any more. 0k. the rollers, you have touched on this _ any more. 0k. the rollers, you have touched on this likely, - have touched on this likely, the role is ceremonial, the presidency role is ceremonial. not completely because... {lilia not completely because... 0k, exlain not completely because... 0k, explain that — not completely because... 0k, explain that to _ not completely because... 0k, explain that to us. _ not completely because... 0k, explain that to us. is _ not completely because... 0k, explain that to us. is needed i explain that to us. is needed to do a lot — explain that to us. is needed

to do a lot of _ explain that to us. is needed to do a lot of things, - to do a lot of things, especially the deployment of armed forces, ambassadors, high military officials, intelligence services, so he can block some of the government decisions and he has used that in the past and we have actually seen many countries around the world, ambassadors have stayed over their term or we have charged affairs actually taken on the role of ambassadors and that has somewhat weakened his position because there has been a lot of personal conflict between the prime minister and the president. they both used to be diplomats and it is a personal conflict that overshadows party conflict between the two.- overshadows party conflict between the two. 0k. should it no to a between the two. 0k. should it go to a second _ between the two. 0k. should it go to a second round, - between the two. 0k. should it go to a second round, that - between the two. 0k. should it go to a second round, that will| go to a second round, that will take place injanuary. would it be in a few weeks, towards the end ofjanuary? in be in a few weeks, towards the end ofjanuary?— end ofjanuary? in two weeks' time and _ end ofjanuary? in two weeks' time and probably _ end ofjanuary? in two weeks' time and probably he - end ofjanuary? in two weeks' time and probably he will- end ofjanuary? in two weeks' time and probably he will win | time and probably he will win because he almost won it in the first round. but of course, the governing party will try to mobilise all possible voters to

mitigate that. but when we look at the results of the other candidates, which a lot of them were also on the right wing, they will probably not support they will probably not support the government candidate, so again, that plays into the hands of the incumbent. fik. again, that plays into the hands of the incumbent. 1548 00: