Heavy snow causes flight cancellations, road accidents

A snowplow works on the runway at Jeju International Airport in Jeju, Dec. 18. Yonhap

• Published Dec 18, 2022 10:55 AM KST
• Updated Dec 18, 2022 4:44 PM KST

Major snowfall caused a series of road accidents and flight cancellations in southern Korea on Sunday.

As of 9:10 a.m. Sunday, 51 outbound and 44 inbound flights at Jeju International Airport, on the southern resort island of Jeju, had been canceled.

Only six domestic flights out of 231 scheduled for Sunday had operated normally, Jeju aviation authorities said. The airport has been placed under wind shear and strong wind warnings after getting blanketed by heavy snowfall earlier on the weekend.

Other parts of the country also dealt with road accidents and flight cancellations on Sunday.

Jeonnam Fire Services Headquarters in Muan, some 380 kilometers south of Seoul in South Jeolla Province, said it had received nine road accident reports Sunday morning alone.

A vehicle slipped on an icy road in Boseong, South Jeolla, just past 3 a.m. Sunday, sending its driver to a local hospital for minor injuries. A similar accident happened in Boseong about three hours later, authorities said.

Around 7:30 a.m. in Boseong, a bus, a truck and a passenger vehicle narrowly avoided a three-way crash.

Authorities also fielded calls for help from drivers unable to get over slippery hills across the province.

Inclement conditions also led to cancellations of multiple flights out of South Jeolla.

At Gwangju Airport, six outbound flights through 10:30 a.m. and six inbound flights through 11:40 a.m. have been canceled.

At nearby Muan International Airport, just west of Gwangju, a flight bound for Bangkok has been delayed, while four domestic inbound and outbound flights have been scrapped.

Incheon International Airport, Korea's main gateway located west of Seoul, reported no weather-delayed cancellations as of Sunday morning. (Yonhap)