The Jeju Air pilot told air traffic control the passenger plane had suffered a bird strike before it crashed while landing at an airport in South Korea, transport officials said.

Following the strike, the pilots declared mayday and signalled their intention to go around. But the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 belly-landed and skidded off the end of the runway at Muan International Airport, erupting in a fireball as it slammed into a wall.

All 175 passengers and four of the six crew on the Jeju Air flight 7C2216, arriving from Bangkok, were killed shortly after 9am local time (midnight GMT) on Sunday. Two crew members were pulled out alive.

The control tower had warned the pilots that birds were spotted in the vicinity shortly before the bird strike occurred.

Officials are investigating what role the localiser antenna, located at the end of the runway to help in landing, played in the crash, including the embankment on which it was standing, transport ministry officials told a media briefing.