Last photos of doomed Jeju Air passengers: Boy, three, excitedly looks out of plane window before Boeing 737 crashed in fireball and killed 179

Victims of one of South Korea’s worst ever plane crashes have been named and photographed for the first time – including a three-year-old boy who was the youngest to die in the disaster as he returned home from a holiday with his parents.

A Jeju Air plane skidded off the runway at Muan airport, 300 kilometers south of Seoul, before crashing into a concrete barrier and catching fire on Sunday after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy.

Nearly all 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 were killed, with only two cabin crew members – a man and a woman – pulled from the wreckage alive.

Five of the people killed in the tragedy were children under the age of ten. The youngest, a three-year-old, was seen in a photo taken days earlier as he flew to Thailand for his first foreign holiday.

The boy’s father, Kang Ko, 43, and his mother Jin Lee Seon, 37, shared photos of their trip on Instagram hours before boarding the doomed flight to South Korea, local media reported.

One of the holiday snaps showed their son excitedly looking out the plane window as they flew to Bangkok, while another heartbreaking post showed the toddler holding his passport.

‘My son is going abroad on an overnight flight for the first time, and his first passport has no stamp!’ Mr Ko captioned the tragic post, which has since been flooded with tributes and messages of condolence for the family.

It comes after the last text messages from a passenger on the doomed flight were revealed, appearing to support theories that the plane was struck by a bird just before its final descent.

The unnamed passenger reportedly sent a message to a family member shortly before the crash saying, “We can’t land because there’s a bird stuck in the wing.”

“Should I say my last words?” they wrote next, before communication was lost.

Tributes have been paid to the many victims, with many expressing their condolences for the loss of entire families in the air disaster.

Sports broadcaster Jung Woo-young shared a post on Instagram paying tribute to Mr. Ko, who reportedly worked in PR for the Kia Tigers baseball team.

“He was so good at his job that everyone on our company baseball team liked him,” the TV host wrote.

‘Of course I was one of them. We waited until the end for news of a miraculous return, but with the news of the death of everyone except the rescuers, even our last hope disappeared. In the end he never came back. Not even his family.’

Korean media have suggested that Mr Ko planned the trip both to celebrate Christmas and after his team’s victory in the Korean Series earlier this year.

Mr Ko regularly shared photos of his family on Instagram, including several posts from their holiday to Thailand, showing the parents and their son, dubbed Go Mo in the Korean media, visiting a temple and enjoying a trip to the zoo.

The dead also included two Thai nationals, one of whom has been identified as a 22-year-old woman named Sirithon Chaue, whose mother had been waiting for her at Muan airport.

Her relatives said today she was fulfilling a lifelong dream of flying to Korea, where her mother lives, in hopes of finding a job as a flight attendant.

In the village of Chiang Rai, close to the border with China, Sirithon’s family and friends have been mourning since news of her death emerged.

Her uncle Theerapat Chaue, 37, said: “My niece loved Korea. She went to visit her mother, who has been working there for ten years. She always dreamed of working there as a flight attendant.

‘Her mother was waiting at the airport and at first thought the plane disruption was minor. But then she saw the videos of what happened on social media. She was in shock and panic.

‘The airline has offered to provide tickets for myself and my two brothers to go to South Korea for the funeral. But maybe we’ll bring her ashes home.”

Many of the people on board the doomed flight had celebrated the Christmas holidays in Thailand and were returning home.

A man in his 60s told local media that five members of his family had been on the plane, including his sister-in-law, his daughter, her husband and their young children.

Jeon Je-young, whose daughter Mi-sook was among the 179 people killed aboard Jeju Airlines Flight 2216, said he still cannot believe what happened.

“When I saw the video of the accident, the plane seemed to be going out of control,” the 71-year-old father said.

‘The pilots probably had no choice but to do it. My daughter, who is only in her mid-40s, ended up like this. This is unbelievable.’

“The water at the airport is not deep,” Jeon told Reuters.

“(There) are softer fields than this cement track. Why couldn’t the pilot land there?’

He added that his daughter was almost safely home so he had seen no reason to call and leave a final message. “She was almost home, she thought she was coming home.”

More than 24 hours after the tragedy, authorities said the identities of 141 of the 179 people killed have been confirmed.

Only five bodies have been released to families so far, the BBC reports, as grieving families continue the agonizing wait for the remains of their loved ones.

Families reportedly asked him why only five bodies had been released. The police officer reportedly replied that they were the only ones intact.

“Can you promise they’ll be put back together?” one man reportedly asked.

The official told attendees they will have more results Tuesday morning.

Some families still waiting at the airport have camped overnight in emergency tents set up in the departure hall.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other accident response authorities said in a statement that “the remains of all 179 deaths have been placed in a temporary mortuary.”

“Once investigating authorities have completed the autopsy and are ready to return the bodies, we will further contact the families.”