Crash survivors speak of the final moments

Emergency efforts are shifting from searching for survivors to locating victims' bodies at the South Korean crash site.

BUSAN, South Korea -- Passengers aboard the doomed Air China jet have begun talking about the final moments of their flight as the plane slammed into a foggy mountain in South Korea, catching fire and skidding 100 yards.

The Monday morning crash killed at least 119 people but 38 of those on board survived, including the pilot, while 9 are still missing. Most of the passengers were South Koreans.

Survivors said Flight CA-129 crashed shortly after passengers were told to buckle their seat belts and prepare for landing.

"The plane suddenly dipped, then rose and then went down again. Seconds later, there was a big bang and I was knocked unconscious," Jin Wenxue, a 35-year-old Korean-Chinese man from China's Jilin province, told The Associated Press.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae reports heavy rains are hampering rescue efforts in the search for survivors of an Air China jet that crashed near Busan, South Korea Play video   GALLERY Scenes from the crash site    MORE STORIES • Crash unlikely to stop privatization    EXTRA INFORMATION • Click here to see recent airplane crashes.  • Profile: Air China   • Chronology: Asian air disasters      CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

The plane hit one side of the mountain and then plowed toward the peak, catching fire and cutting a trail of fallen trees 100 yards long and 30 yards wide, witnesses say.

"Bodies were burning in the mud. Survivors were crying in pain," Bae Han-sol, 15, who rushed to the site after the plane skimmed over his village with a deafening roar, told AP.

"We seldom see planes flying over our village, so I thought it was strange that the plane, trembling, flew toward the mountain in fog," he said.

Quoting survivors, police said there was no explosion on the plane before the crash, an indication that it was an accident, not an act of terrorism.

Call from plane

A South Korean travel agency executive said he got a call around the time of the crash from a passenger aboard the plane who said it seemed to be in trouble.

"The caller said, 'The plane seems to have problems, maybe, an accident,"' Kim Yu-seok told AP. "After a brief silence, I heard people screaming over the phone."

"Then the phone got disconnected."

He first dismissed the 15-20 second call as a prank but then realized the caller was Lee Kang-dae, an adviser to his company who was on the flight from Beijing. He said Lee was among the survivors.

Store help

Many of the bloodied and bandaged survivors had to trudge down the muddy slope to safety, or were given piggybacks by police.

But the first survivor had to make his way on his own. He walked to the Hope Grocery store, which is at the bottom of the hill, to ask South Korean shopkeeper Suh Eun-sook for help -- and a mirror.

"This man, wearing a suit covered with blood and soot, hobbled into my store, covering his face," Suh told Reuters.

"His face was black and his cheek was bleeding heavily," 35-year-old Suh said, adding the man was missing a shoe.

"We called the 119 emergency hotline and then he sat there and asked for a mirror," Suh said. "He saw his face and looked stunned."

The man, who did not give his name, was later taken to hospital as rescuers searched the mountainside above the shop. It was not clear how badly he was injured.

Several other survivors described how they fled to safety. From his hospital bed, one survivor said that he lost consciousness when the plane crashed.

"When I came to, I saw fire at the tail. There was a little hole on the left side so I slid through there," he said.

Change direction

Kimhae Airport is used for both civilian and military planes, and air force personnel staff the control tower. Air force Col. Kim Sung-hwi said the plane was given permission to land because weather conditions were good enough.

Aviation officials said controllers had asked the pilot to change direction before landing due to a strong headwind, and that it hit the mountain while circling around to other side of the airport.

The plane's wreckage looked like shredded pieces of paper. Burned plane parts were scattered for 300 yards in all directions, and the broken tail and nose rested near the mountaintop. The air reeked of burning oil, witnesses said.

"There were pieces of aircraft everywhere. The plane crashed into a steep incline and the rain and mud made it very hard to reach the site," said Chun Hee-saeng, a resident who helped rescuers.

"Everything was burnt, including the people that I saw."

After the crash, hundreds of police, military and civilian workers combed through smoking wreckage, using shovels and electric torches, but their work was hampered by rain. Bad roads also slowed rescue efforts.