Japanese plane catches fire after airport collision, 5 dead: Report
TOKYO, Japan: A Japan Airlines plane caught fire after colliding with a coast guard plane on the runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday, media reports said, killing five people.
Pictures on broadcaster NHK showed the plane moving onto the runway before a huge burst of orange flames erupted from below and behind it.
NHK said all 367 passengers and 12 crew members on board the Airbus plane were evacuated safely. Eight children were also included on the ship, Kyodo News reported. The five killed were aboard the Coast Guard aircraft.
NHK reported that one of the six crew members on board the coast guard plane was safe but the other five were unaccounted for.
The cause of the incident was not immediately clear, but television reports said the Airbus collided with a coast guard aircraft.
The coast guard plane was scheduled to depart to help rescue efforts after Monday’s massive earthquake that hit central Japan, Jiji news agency reported.
A coast guard official at Haneda Airport, one of the world’s busiest, said they were “checking into the details.”
“It is not clear whether there was a collision or not. But it is certain that it involved our aircraft,” he told AFP.
JAL said the passenger plane collided with another plane either on the runway or on the taxiway, Kyodo reported.Footage shot by a passenger inside the plane showed flames shooting out from beneath the cabin before smoke filled it. AFP was unable to verify the footage.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said it was investigating the incident, Kyodo said.
Television footage showed flames coming out of the windows as rescue workers sprayed the plane before the flames engulfed the entire plane.
There was also burning debris on the runway and reports said the airport was closed to traffic.
NHK reported that more than 70 fire engines were being deployed.
Japan has not suffered a serious commercial aviation accident for decades.
Its worst to date was in 1985, when a JAL jumbo jet flying from Tokyo to Osaka crashed in the central Gunma area, killing 520 passengers and crew.
That crash was one of the world’s deadliest aircraft accidents involving a single flight.
