UPDATE 2-South Korea orders air safety probe after the country's worst crash kills 179

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By Ju-min Park and Hongji Kim

MUAN COUNTY, South Korea, Dec 30 (Reuters) - South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok on Monday ordered an emergency safety inspection of the country's entire airline operation system as investigators worked to identify victims and find what caused the country's deadliest air disaster.

The crash on Sunday killed 179 people when a Jeju Air jet belly-landed and skidded off the end of the runway, erupting in a fireball as it slammed into a wall at Muan International Airport. Two crew members were pulled out alive.

The top priority for now is identifying the victims, supporting their families and treating the two survivors, Choi told a disaster management meeting in Seoul.

"Even before the final results are out, we ask that officials transparently disclose the accident investigation process and promptly inform the bereaved families," he said.

"As soon as the accident recovery is conducted, the Transport Ministry is requested to conduct an emergency safety inspection of the entire aircraft operation system to prevent recurrence of aircraft accidents," he said.

Jeju Air 089590.KS flight 7C2216, arriving from the Thai capital Bangkok with 175 passengers and six crew on board, was trying to land shortly after 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Sunday at the airport in the south of the country.

Investigators are examining bird strikes and weather conditions as possible factors in the crash, fire officials have said. Experts say many questions remain, including why the twin-engine Boeing 737-800 appeared to be travelling so fast and why its landing gear did not appear to be down when it skidded down the runway and into a wall.

The crash killed mostly local residents who were returning from holidays in Thailand, while two Thai nationals also died.

On Monday morning, investigators were trying to identify some of the last remaining victims, as anguished families waited inside the Muan airport terminal.

Park Han-shin, who lost his brother in the crash, said he was told by authorities that his brother had been identified but has not been able to see his body.

Park called on other victims' families to unite in responding to the disaster and recovery efforts, citing a 2014 ferry sinking that killed more than 300 people. Prolonged efforts to identify the victims and cause of the sinking followed that disaster.

Emergency workers were sifting through wreckage that was nearly completely destroyed when the aircraft was engulfed in an explosion of flames and debris at the regional airport near the country's winding western coastline.

Transportation ministry officials said the jet's flight data recorder was recovered but appeared to have sustained some damage on the outside and it was not yet clear whether the data was sufficiently intact to be analyzed.

The Muan airport remains closed through Wednesday but the rest of the country's international and regional airports including the main Incheon International Airport were operating as scheduled.

Shares of South Korean budget carrier Jeju Air hit their lowest level on record on Monday, trading as much as 15.7% lower.

Under global aviation rules, South Korea will lead a civil investigation into the crash and automatically involve the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States where the plane was designed and built.

The NTSB said it was leading a team of U.S. investigators to help South Korea's aviation authority. Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration were also taking part.

Choi, who was overseeing recovery efforts and the investigation, became acting leader just three days ago after the country's president and prime minister were impeached over the imposition of a short-lived martial law.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park, Hongji Kim in Muan, Jihoon Lee, Hyunsu Yim in Seoul, Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Tom Hogue and Lincoln Feast.)

((jack.kim@thomsonreuters.com; +822 6936 1455;))