Two dead as cargo plane crashes off South Korea

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SEOUL: Two people were killed when an Asiana Airlines cargo plane crashed Thursday off South Korea's southern island of Jeju, apparently after a fire broke out, officials said.

Debris including part of the wing, seats and a liferaft was found by a coastguard patrol boat just over 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of the island, a Jeju coastguard spokesman said.

Four coastguard boats and a helicopter were searching the area, he told.

The Boeing 747-400 had taken off from Incheon at 3:05 am and was headed for Shanghai.

The pilot called Jeju airport at 4.11 am to request an emergency landing because of mechanical problems but the aircraft disappeared from radar screens soon afterwards, an Asiana spokesman said.

The transport ministry said in a statement the plane carrying a pilot and a co-pilot was believed to have caught fire in flight, but nothing could be said for sure until the recovery of its flight data recorder.

Yonhap news agency said the plane's 58 tonnes of cargo contained some unspecified inflammable material. The Asiana spokesman said he was unaware of the contents of the cargo.

Asiana is the country's second and smaller flag carrier. It largely operates short-haul routes into Asia. (AFP)