The boarding gate at Jeju International Airport was packed with passengers waiting for their flight amid a heavy snow warning on Sunday. (Yonhap News Agency via Korea Herald/Asia News Network)
JEJU — Heavy snowfall led to a series of traffic accidents and flight cancellations in southern South Korea on Sunday.
As of 9:10 a.m. Sunday, 51 outbound flights and 44 inbound flights from Jeju International Airport on the southern resort island of Jeju had been cancelled.
Of the 231 flights scheduled to depart on Sunday, only six domestic flights were operating normally, Jeju aviation authorities said. The airport has been placed under a wind shear and strong wind warning after being covered in heavy snow earlier in the weekend.
The rest of the country also dealt with road accidents and flight cancellations on Sunday.
The Jeonnam Fire Department in Muan, about 380 kilometers south of Seoul in South Jeolla Province, said it had received nine reports of traffic accidents on Sunday morning alone.
The driver of a car skidded on an icy road in Boseong, Jeollanam Province, was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries just after 3 a.m. on Sunday. About three hours later, a similar accident occurred in Baocheng, authorities said.
A bus, a truck and a passenger car narrowly escaped a three-way collision in Baocheng at around 7:30 a.m.
Authorities have also received calls for help from drivers who have been unable to make their way across slippery hills across the province.
Poor conditions also led to the cancellation of several flights from Jeollanam Province.
At Gwangju Airport, six outbound flights by 10:30 am and six inbound flights by 11:40 am have been cancelled.
At Muan International Airport near west of Gwangju, a Bangkok-bound flight was delayed, while four domestic inbound and outbound flights were cancelled.
Incheon International Airport, South Korea’s main gateway west of Seoul, had reported no weather-related flight delays as of Sunday morning. (Yonhap News Agency)
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