Japan Airlines Collision On Tokyo Pacu Runway: 5 Crews Of Coast Guard Plane Killed
JAKARTA - A Japanese Airlines plane caught fire after colliding with a smaller coast guard plane on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport.The incident left five crew members on the coast guard plane dead, while 379 Japanese Airlines passengers and crew were successfully evacuated.Reporting from the BBC, Wednesday, January 5, the fire enveloped the plane after landing, slipping on a burning runway. Firefighters spent hours extinguishing the fire. The plane originated from Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido.Air safety experts praised the flight crew for evacuating all passengers safely. The four runways of Haneda were closed after the incident, disrupting the planned journey of thousands of passengers.Japan Airlines Flight 516 departed New Chitose Sapporo airport at 16:00 local time (07: 00 GMT) and landed at Haneda shortly before 18: 00. The video shows the plane caught fire while traveling on the runway after landing."I felt an explosion like we hit something andikan up as we landed," a passenger told Kyodo news agency."I saw sparks from outside the windows and the cabin filled with gas and smoke," he continued.Passengers fled via evacuation and run across the runway to a safe place, footage and photos show. Officials said crew members reported no problems before landing. Exchanges with flight controllers are under investigation.What caused the collision remains unclear. The coast guard said an investigation was underway to determine how and at what time the two planes came into contact with each other.The coast guard plane-a turboprop De Havilland Dash 8- prior to the incident was on its way to assisting rescue and rescue efforts after Monday's earthquake in Ishikawa. It was one of four planes on a mission to the earthquake site.TV footage shows several fire trucks at the scene as smoke and flames billowing from the Airbus. Footage from within the plane shows passengers surrounded by thick smoke. The passenger plane effectively caught fire to the fuselage.
A woman posted a photo of a large crowd watching the scene was revealed."I was on the ship. I am safe. Thankfully," he wrote on X, a platform previously known as Twitter.But within hours of the blaze, police in Tokyo had confirmed reports that five of the coast guard's crew had been killed and said the pilot was seriously injured.