On New Year’s Day, relatives of the victims of the South Korea plane crash gathered to pay their respects. Officials have extracted data from one of the retrieved black boxes to determine the exact cause of the crash. The Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air crashed at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea, killing all but two of the 181 passengers and crew.

Without landing gear, the aircraft landed on its belly at high speed before rolling off the end of the runway into a concrete fence and bursting into flames. The clip revealed that the jet was experiencing an apparent engine trouble in addition to a landing gear malfunction. According to investigators, the pilot was warned by air traffic controllers of anticipated bird strikes, and the plane sent out a distress signal prior to the incident.

The Transport Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that it had finished extracting data from the cockpit voice recorder, one of two black boxes recovered from the debris. It stated that the data would be transformed into audio files. The government stated that a damaged flight data recorder would be forwarded to the United States for analysis. Except for two Thai nationals, all of the casualties were South Koreans, and many had returned from Bangkok following the Christmas holidays.

On Wednesday, heartbroken family returned to the crash site for the first time since the accident for an emotional memorial service. They were bused to the place and took turns placing white flowers. Many people knelt and bowed profoundly before a memorial table spread with food, including “ddeokguk,” a Korean rice cake soup eaten on New Year’s Day. The Transport Ministry announced that investigators have completed the difficult task of identifying all 179 victims. It stated that the administration has already handed over 11 bodies to relatives. South Korea is honouring seven days of national mourning following the deadliest aircraft catastrophe in decades.

The government has initiated safety inspections on all 101 Boeing 737-800s operated by the country’s domestic airlines. On Tuesday, a team of U.S. investigators, including Boeing executives, visited the disaster site. Officials have said they will evaluate whether the airport’s localizer — a system of antennae contained in a concrete railing at the end of the runway used to guide aircraft during landings — should have been constructed with lighter materials that would break more easily upon impact.