South Korean authorities said 179 people are confirmed to have died when a passenger plane skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy, officials said.The National Fire Agency said rescuers raced to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people at the airport in the town of Muan, about 180 miles (290km) south of Seoul.The Transport Ministry said the plane was a 15-

South Korean authorities said 179 people are confirmed to have died when a passenger plane skidded off a runway at a South Korean airport, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames after its front landing gear apparently failed to deploy, officials said.The National Fire Agency said rescuers raced to pull people from the Jeju Air passenger plane carrying 181 people at the airport in the town of Muan, about 180 miles (290km) south of Seoul.The Transport Ministry said the plane was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet that was returning from Bangkok and that the crash happened at 9.03am local time.