Two crew members may have survived the Jeju Air plane crash in South Korea thanks to sitting backwards with a harness on in the safest part of the cabin, according to aviation experts.

The Boeing 737-800 belly-landed and skidded down the runway at Muan International Airport on Sunday before hitting a structure beyond the Tarmac and bursting into flames. Of the 181 on board, 179 were killed.

The two surviving flight attendants, who had reportedly been seated in the rear section of the aircraft that separated in the collision, were rescued from the plane’s tail, which pictures showed ended up upside down.

Lee Jung-hyun, the chief of the Muan fire department, said: “Only the tail part retains a little bit of shape, and the rest of [the plane] looks almost impossible to recognise.”