Crashed Korean Plane's Recorders Missing Last 4 Minutes

The voice recorders from the South Korean plane that crashed in December and killed nearly 200 people are missing four minutes of information before the disaster.

South Korea’s transport ministry announced that the crashed Jeju Air flight’s flight data and cockpit recorders stopped recording four minutes prior to the crash and will analyze what made the “black boxes” stop.

The ministry reported that the recorders were originally examined in South Korea, and after data was discovered to be missing, they were flown to the U.S. and analyzed by American safety regulators.

Speaking to Reuters, Sim Jai-dong, a former transport ministry accident investigator, suggested that this loss of data in the final minutes of the flight could suggest that all of the plane’s power, including back-up, was potentially cut.

The crash of the Jeju Airplane last month killed 179 people and left only two crew members seated at the back of the plane as survivors. It has become the deadliest air accident on Korean soil.

The plane crash-landed at Muan International Airport on Dec. 30th and collided with a wall off the end of the runway, causing it to burst into flames.

Investigators are investigating what caused the crash. So far, a potential bird strike or weather conditions have been considered.