On 28 July 2011, the Boeing 747-400F flying from Seoul, South Korea, to Shanghai, China, crashed into the sea off Jeju Island after suffering an in-flight cargo fire.

[1] The accident marked the second loss of a 747 freighter due to a cargo hold fire in less than a year, following the crash of UPS Airlines Flight 6 in Dubai in September 2010.

The aircraft was loaded with 58 tonnes of cargo, the majority of which consisted of semiconductors, mobile phones, liquid crystal displays, and light-emitting diodes.

[1][2] At 03:54, while cruising at 34,000 feet (10,000 m), the crew contacted air traffic control (ATC) reporting a fire on board, requesting an immediate descent and diversion to Jeju Airport, South Korea, for an emergency landing.

Fire damage and soot were found in the air conditioning ducts that run along the fuselage and on ceiling panels near the cockpit area.

Some electronic components that were part of the cargo were found embedded in the wing's upper surface, together with traces of paint and photoresist, suggesting that at some point, the flammable liquids transported in one of the pallets ignited, causing an explosion that blew out portions of the fuselage in midair.

[14] In 2012, the International Civil Aviation Organization considered applying new safety standards to air carriage of lithium batteries as a result of this and the preceding crash of UPS Airlines Flight 6.