As the investigation continued, families travelled to the crash site for the first time to pay their respects on Wednesday and some returned the following day with cardboard boxes to collect their loved ones’s belongings.
On Thursday at the airport, a monk led prayers close to the crash site, while inside the airport, the stairs were covered in colourful post-it notes left by mourners.
“Honey, I miss you way too much,” one of them said.
“Even if you faced lonely and painful moments in death, may you now soar like a butterfly,” another read.
Relatives also left flowers and food near the site including tteokguk —- rice cake soup traditionally enjoyed in South Korea on New Year’s Day —- as they said their goodbyes, many in tears.
Local media reported on a handwritten note, seemingly written by the pilot’s brother, that was placed alongside gimbap — a popular Korean dish — and a drink cup near the crash site.
“I feel heartbroken when I think about the struggles you faced alone (in your last moments),” it read.
“You were truly amazing and did so well, so I hope you can now find happiness in a warm place. Thank you, and I’m sorry.”
On Wednesday — a public holiday in the South — hundreds of people queued up to pay their respects at an airport memorial altar set up to honour the victims.
So many people came to the memorial that the queue stretched for hundreds of metres and the local cell phone network was overloaded, local media reported.
Other altars for the victims have been set up nationwide.
© 2025 AFP
