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A Japan Airlines plane caught fire after colliding with a smaller coast guard plane on the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
All 379 passengers and crew on board were evacuated, but five of the six crew on the coastguard plane died, police said. The captain was injured.
Flames engulfed the plane after landing, skidding down the burning runway.
Firefighters spent hours extinguishing the blaze. The plane flying from Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Air safety experts have praised the crew for safely evacuating all the passengers. All four of Haneda’s runways were closed after the incident, disrupting travel plans for thousands of passengers.
Japan Airlines Flight 516 took off from Sapporo’s new Chitose Airport at 4:00 p. m. local time (07:00 GMT) and landed in Haneda shortly before 6:00 p. m.
In the video, he is seen bursting into flames as he ran down the runway after landing.
“I felt a pop as if we had hit something and I bounced the moment we landed,” one passenger told the Kyodo news agency. “I saw sparks through the windows and the cabin filled with fuel and smoke. “
Passengers escaped an escape slide and ran to the track to safety, footage and videos show.
Officials said the flight crew reported any disorder before landing. Exchanges with flight controllers are being considered.
The cause of the collision is still unclear. The Coast Guard said an investigation was underway into how and when the two planes came into contact.
Five killed on coast guard plane after crash in Tokyo – live
Dramatic videos show how plane is overcome by fire at Haneda airport
A Japan Airlines agent said flight JL516 was “involved in a collision with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft while landing at Haneda Airport, which caused a fire on the runway. “
“We assure you that all passengers and crew on our flight have been safely evacuated. Our minds and prayers are with the deceased members of the Japanese Coast Guard. “
The coast guard aircraft, a De Havilland Dash 8 turboprop, en route to rescue and relief efforts following Monday’s earthquake in Ishikawa. It is one of four planes in a project to the earthquake site.
Television footage showed several fire engines at the scene as smoke and flames billowed from the Airbus. Footage from the plane showed passengers surrounded by thick smoke. The airliner burned to the fuselage.
One woman posted a photo of a large crowd watching the scene unfold. “I’m on board. I’m safe. Thank God,” he wrote on X, the former Twitter platform.
But hours after the fire, Tokyo police showed reports that all five members of the coast guard team had died and said the pilot was seriously injured.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the government was seeking to ensure that the turn of fate did not impede deliveries of relief materials in the aftermath of the quake.
“It is a great regret because the team members carried out their tasks with a strong sense of their project and their duty to those suffering in the crisis zone,” he said.
At least 14 of the passengers and crew who were evacuated from the Japan Airlines flight suffered minor injuries, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported, fire officials said.
Flights at Haneda, one of two foreign airports serving the Japanese capital, were suspended and many were diverted to other airports in Japan while emergency services dealt with the fire. All but one of the runways where the collision occurred were opened Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Transportation said.
This is the first major twist of fate involving an A350, a new-generation aircraft built largely from complex fabrics such as carbon fibre reinforced plastic. Airbus is sending a team of specialists to Japan to assist in the investigation.
There was also praise for the efforts of the Japan Airline crew and pilots.
“They’re in security. They are the last to evacuate the plane and at first glance it looks like they have done an amazing job,” Professor Graham Braithwaite, director of dispatch systems at Cranfield University in the UK, told the BBC. . .
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