South Korea's rival parties agreed Tuesday to form a joint task force to probe the recent Jeju Air plane crash that left 179 people dead, as the transport minister offered to resign over the tragedy.

The flight, operated by Jeju Air, was landing when it went off the runway in Muan, in the country’s southwest. Only two people survived the crash.

Families of the victims were taken to the crash site for the first time on New Year's Day to pay their respects.

South Korean officials are struggling to determine what caused a deadly plane crash that killed nearly 180 people on board, with the nation saddened, shocked and ashamed over the country’s worst aviation disaster in decades.

In his own words, a restaurant owner described recording videos of the Jeju Air plane crash as it happened. “Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing afterimages of the blast.”

Investigators from the NTSB and Boeing were expected to join the investigation into South Korea's deadliest air crash.

The deadliest accident in aviation history occurred in 1977, when two Boeing 747 jumbo jets collided on a foggy runway on the Spanish island of Tenerife, killing 583 of the 644 people on board the planes. Spanish investigators blamed the captain of the KLM 747 for taking off without clearance from air traffic controllers.

Officials are investigating the cause of the deadliest aircraft crash in South Korean history, which killed 179 people.

South Korea's government said on Monday it will extend the shutdown of Muan International Airport by a week to Jan. 14, citing the ongoing investigation into the crash of a Jeju Air jet that killed 179 passengers on board.

South Korean authorities have extended the closure of a southwestern airport where a Jeju Air plane crashed and killed 179 people onboard, the land ministry said Monday.