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Data from cockpit voice recorder has been extracted

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Investigators still working to get data from flight

recorder

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More U.S. officials arrive to help with the probe

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All victims now identified, funeral procedures start

By Hyonhee Shin and Eduardo Baptista

SEOUL/MUAN COUNTY, South Korea, Jan 1 (Reuters) - The

investigation into the crash of a South Korea passenger jet

gathered pace on Wednesday as bereaved families began to prepare

funerals after authorities finished formally identifying the 179

victims of the country's worst air disaster.

The transport ministry said South Korean investigators have

extracted the data from the plane's cockpit voice recorder and

will convert it into an audio file, critical information to try

to explain the few minutes that led up to the crash.

The investigation team is still working to extract the

contents of the flight data recorder, which was found missing a

key connector, the ministry said.

All 175 passengers and four of the six crew members were

killed on Sunday when the Jeju Air jet belly-landed

at Muan International Airport in the country's southwest and

slammed into a sand-and-concrete embankment at the end of the

runway, where it burst into flames.

Two crew members, located near the tail of the Boeing

737-800, survived the disaster.

The government has declared a national mourning period until

Jan. 4 and the country will scale back New Year's celebrations.

The transport ministry said two more U.S. officials arrived

late on Tuesday to join a team of around two dozen investigators

including from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board

(NTSB), Federal Aviation Administration, and aircraft maker

Boeing ( BA ).

"They're also planning to start a visual investigation into

the wreckage," deputy minister for civil aviation Joo Jong-wan

told a briefing.

Officials have said investigators were expected to examine

whether a bird strike, a failure of the landing gear to drop or

if problems with any other control systems played a role in the

disaster.

They will also investigate the pilot's apparent rush to

attempt a landing right after he had declared an emergency,

officials have said.

Air safety experts have also questioned if the airport

embankment designed to prop up navigation equipment was built

too close to the end of the runway.

South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok on Wednesday

called for a fair and objective investigation, and said funeral

procedures have begun after all the victims were formally

identified.

"The most urgent matter at present is to return the victims

to their families," Choi told an intra-agency meeting.

Airport authorities set up an altar late on Tuesday and

on Wednesday buses carried relatives of victims to the crash

site so that they could pay their respects, just metres from the

crashed plane's charred and broken tail - the only relatively

intact part of the aircraft following the accident.

The Muan airport was brimming with mourners seeking to pay

their tributes at the altar, leading to a queue of several

hundred metres.

County officials sent an alert to urge visitors to go

instead to a larger memorial set up in a sport complex about 9

km (5 miles) from the crash site.

It could still take several days until all bereaved

relatives are able to secure the release of the bodies of their

loved ones.