The black boxes holding the flight data and cockpit voice recorders for the crashed Jeju Air flight that left 179 people dead stopped recording four minutes before the disaster, South Korea's transport ministry said Saturday.

The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to Muan, South Korea, on Dec. 29 carrying 181 passengers and crew when it belly-landed at the Muan airport and exploded in a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier.

It was the worst-ever aviation disaster on South Korean soil.