A Japan Airlines jet burst into flames on a runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday after a collision on the ground with a Japan Coast Guard plane.
A Japan Airlines plane burning at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday evening | KYODO
A total of 367 passengers and 12 crew members were on board the plane, an Airbus A350, and all were all able to evacuate safely via an emergency slide, with at least 17 people sustaining injuries, according to NHK. Five of the six people on the coast guard plane died, with the captain surviving but sustaining severe injuries.
The JAL plane was arriving from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, with the collision occurring after it landed on runway C.
The coast guard aircraft was on a mission to fly to a base in Niigata Prefecture carrying supplies to support the area affected by the deadly 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit central Japan on Monday. The coast guard aircraft was moving on the runway when it collided with the JAL plane.
The coast guard said the captain, Genki Miyamoto, 39, reported to the coast guard at around 5:55 p.m. that the aircraft had “exploded” on the Haneda runway and that he had managed to escape.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said it was “very unfortunate” that the five coast guard members died in the crash, offering his sincere condolences and saying that he has great respect for their strong sense of duty to help victims of the earthquake.
The five members who died in the accident were Nobuyuki Tahara, 41, Yoshiki Ishida, 27, Wataru Tatewaki, 39, Makoto Uno, 47, and Shigeaki Kato, 56.
NHK footage showed flames emerging from near the engines of the plane and firefighters battling the blaze. Although some 70 fire trucks were dispatched after the incident, which occurred at 5:47 p.m., the plane was almost entirely engulfed in flames as of 6:30 p.m., footage showed.
The burning Japan Airlines plane at Haneda Airport on Tuesday | JIJI
Uchida, a passenger in her 40s from Chiba Prefecture who only gave her surname, was sitting in a window seat on the right side of the plane near the wing. She said that when the plane landed, it made a loud noise, but she didn’t realize there had been a collision, initially thinking they had landed safely. But after looking out the window, she saw flames near the wing.
“I thought it was over,” she said. “I thought I was about to die.”
Uchida said passengers were told to remain calm and that it took a couple of minutes before the plane doors opened, allowing everyone to evacuate. She said she heard a crackling noise after she left the aircraft and feared something would explode.
After departing the aircraft, Uchida said passengers were counted in an area away from the plane. They were asked to hold hands in groups of ten and to sit down and wait.
Ryosuke Sakamoto, a 55-year-old from Tokyo, said he saw smoke coming from the front side of the aircraft. He saw one of the engines emit an orange-like hue and he could smell something burning as passengers escaped.
Despite the tense situation, he said people in his area of the aircraft hardly panicked and were calm throughout, but the situation may have been different for people in the back of the plane, he added.
“I feel bad for saying this, but it felt like (I was in) a TV show (when it happened),” he said. “But I think it’s because I managed to get out safely.”
A huge column of smoke as a Japan Airlines plane is engulfed in flames at Haneda Airport on Tuesday. | KYODO
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening, officials from the transport ministry and coast guard said they were still in the process of confirming specific flight control communications between the JAL plane, the coast guard aircraft and air traffic controllers.
“I have never heard of such a major collision at an airport in Japan,” said Yoshitomo Aoki, an aviation analyst.
“The world’s air traffic control systems are designed to prevent accidents as long as air traffic controllers at airports issue correct instructions and pilots follow them.”
All four of Haneda’s runways were shut down at around 6 p.m. but the airport was able to reopen all but runway C later on Tuesday.
Arriving flights were diverted to airports across the country, including Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture, Chubu Centrair Airport near Nagoya and Kansai Airport in Osaka Prefecture, according to the Flightradar24 app.
The incident came during one of the busiest travel periods of the year, with millions of Japanese traveling to and from their hometowns for the New Year’s holidays.
Haneda is Japan’s busiest airport, serving nearly 90 million passengers in 2019, prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. It’s a hub for Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and several smaller airlines.
A flight board at Haneda Airport shows all flights as canceled after all runways
were closed following a deadly collision between two planes. | KYODO
Japan’s aviation sector has a strong safety record, with no fatal incidents involving a commercial aircraft this century.
Tuesday’s collision is also the first serious incident involving an Airbus A350, which entered service in 2015.
The A350 is JAL’s only Airbus plane in operation, with 16 in its current fleet.
Fire crews at Haneda Airport work to extinguish a fire on a Japan Airlines jet
on Tuesday night in an image provided by a passenger’s family member. | KYODO
