Experts hope flight recorders will provide answers to key questions surrounding crash in which 179 died

As investigators set to work unpicking the cause of Sunday’s devastating plane crash in South Korea, the black boxes carried on the aircraft will be of prime importance, with retrieval of data from the cockpit voice recorder under way.

All but two of the 181 people onboard died in the disaster, with the victims aged from three to 78. The Korean airline’s chief executive, Kim E-bae, said he wanted “to bow my head and apologise”, according to a statement on the company’s website, adding it was “difficult to determine the cause of the accident”.

Even as experts remain puzzled by Jeju Air crash, they are sceptical a bird strike was sole cause of fatal disaster

One day after the fatal airline disaster in South Korea, the answer as to what went wrong with Jeju Air 2216 remains elusive.

Even as experts remain puzzled by what caused the crash that killed 179 people, experts say that a bird striking the engine is unlikely to be the sole factor.