Air Canada and KLM narrowly avoid disaster amid South Korea crash

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Two additional flights nearly ended in tragedy over the weekend as South Korea grapples with its worst plane crash in decades.

On Saturday, an Air Canada (AC+1.07%) flight experienced what the airlines called a “suspected landing gear issue” when it arrived at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Nova Scotia. Flight AC2259, a Bombardier Q400 plane carrying 73 passengers, was arriving from St. John’s, Newfoundland.

“The cabin tilted, we saw sparks and then flames and then smoke started getting sucked into the cabin,” Nikki Valentine, a passenger on the PAL Airlines flight, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating the incident, which resulted in no reported injuries, the airline told CNN. Halifax Stanfield International Airport was closed for more than an hour, while several flights were canceled and delayed.

KLM Flight 1204 from Oslo, Norway, to Amsterdam, was diverted to Sandefjord Airport after a “loud noise” was heard, according to Royal Dutch Airlines. After landing at the airport, the Boeing (BA-1.97%) 737 jet slowly veered off the runway into the grass, sparking an investigation from the carrier’s team. No one was injured in the incident, the airline.

“After touchdown, we were unable to control the plane. It swerved to the right, and we couldn’t stop it,” one of the pilots said over the flight radio, according to VG.

While neither incident resulted in any serious injuries or deaths, a third resulted in one of the worst aviation disasters in recent memory.

A Boeing 737-800 operated by budget airline Jeju Air carrying 181 people crash-landed on Sunday at Muan International Airport in South Korea at about 9 a.m. local time. The jet descended on the runway at the airport and sped forward on its belly before it crashed into a barrier.

The plane was carrying 175 passengers and six crew members; only two people, both members of the crew, survived, according to authorities. Both were pulled from the plane’s tail section, which was the only part that was still recognizable after the incident, according to The Associated Press.

Ju Jong-wan, a director of aviation policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, told The New York Times that the airport warned the plane about a potential bird strike as it was landing. Shortly after, the plane issued a mayday alert and crash-landed.

Jeju Air CEO Kim E-bae said at a news conference that the airline has no history of accidents, and routine maintenance checks on Flight 7C2216 found nothing out of the ordinary. Sunday’s crash is thought to be the first crash in Jeju Air’s almost two decades of operation.

Boeing said in a statement on Sunday that it is ready to support Jeju Air in regard to the incident and extends its “deepest condolences” to the families of the passengers and crew. The company’s shares plummeted in pre-market trading on Monday as investors grew concerned about another potential controversy for the airline.