5 killed but all 379 passengers, crew safe as plane catches fire in Tokyo runway crash
Transportation minister says fatalities were aboard coast guard plane that collided with Japan Airlines passenger jet
Five people on board a coast guard aircraft died after a runway collision with a Japan Airlines plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday, the Japanese transportation minister said.
The cause of the incident was not immediately clear, but reports and footage indicated that the Airbus had collided with a coast guard aircraft.
“Regarding the coast guard plane, we have been informed that the captain escaped and five people were confirmed dead,” Minister Tetsuo Saito told reporters.
Footage on broadcaster NHK showed the plane moving along the runway before a large explosion of orange flames exploded from beneath and behind it.
All 367 passengers and 12 crew onboard the Airbus plane were safely evacuated, NHK reported. Those onboard included eight children, Kyodo News reported.
NHK reported that one of the six crew members on the coast guard plane was safe but that the other five were unaccounted for, before the minister said they were confirmed dead.
The Jiji news agency reported the coast guard plane had been scheduled to leave to help with rescue efforts following a massive earthquake in central Japan on Monday that killed at least 48.
BREAKING:
After a Japan Airliner (flight JAL 516) collided with a coast guard plane, both were quickly engulfed in flames at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday.
Tragically, five lives were lost, all of those on the smaller plane. pic.twitter.com/u9RsgEnKVq
— Anthony Hughes (@CallMeAntwan) January 2, 2024
#BreakingNews : First visuals from inside the wrecked plane who caught fire at Tokyo International airport #Japan .
People can be heard screaming.#Tsunami #earthquake pic.twitter.com/GnXNYuaCHk— Hsnain???? (@Hsnain901) January 2, 2024
Reports said that the plane had just arrived from Sapporo airport on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
JAL said the passenger plane either collided with the other aircraft on a runway or a taxiway after it touched down, Kyodo reported.
Footage apparently shot by a passenger inside the aircraft showed flames coming from underneath it before the cabin fills with smoke. AFP was unable to verify the footage.
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism said it was probing the incident, Kyodo added.
The television footage showed flames coming out of windows as rescue workers sprayed the aircraft before flames engulfed the entire plane.
There was also burning debris on the runway and reports said the airport was closed to traffic.
More than 70 fire engines were being deployed, NHK reported.
Japan has not suffered a serious commercial aviation accident in decades.
Its worst ever was in 1985, when a JAL jumbo jet flying from Tokyo to Osaka crashed in central Gunma region, killing 520 passengers and crew.
That disaster was one of the world’s deadliest plane crashes involving a single flight.
