JAKARTA - The incident of Japan Airlines (JAL) flight 123 which occurred today 12 August 35 years ago or in 1985 became one of the deadliest single airplane accidents in history. The accident that occurred in southern Gumma, Japan northwest of Tokyo, killed 520 people. Miraculously there were four people who managed to escape death.
As summarized Britannica JAL 123 departed from Tokyo's Haneda airport at 18.12 and was scheduled to land in Osaka an hour later. Boeing 747 seats are fully booked. Because that night was a Japanese holiday and many people were going home or going on vacation.
When the plane was airborne as high as 7,300 meters in the skies of Tokyo the first emergency call came from the pilot. Initially the announcement announced that there had been a loss of altitude information and reported difficulties controlling the aircraft.
Pasawat then sloped around 3,000 meters. The pilot continued to send emergency calls and asked to be diverted to Tokyo airport. But about 45 minutes after take-off, the plane crashed into Mount Takamagahara near Mount Osutaka.
Rescue efforts are made difficult because the accident site is remote and dangerous. It took 14 hours after the accident for emergency rescue crews to arrive at the scene. Some rescuers reached remote areas on foot.
The accident was attributed to the loss of the plane's tail fin. It is likely that the section had weakened due to frequent landings and takeoffs.
Meanwhile, according to the results of the investigation revealed the cause of the accident was that one of the aircraft balancers was not repaired properly during the previous seven years. However, the airline was never responsible for the accident.
Many aviation experts praised the pilot for being able to keep a damaged plane in the air for nearly half an hour. It seems that the pilots' vigorous efforts to save the plane contributed to the survival of four of the 524 people from death.
According to Vintage News, the four survivors were Yumi Ochiai (26), then there was a flight attendant who was not on duty at the time of the accident, Keiko Kawakami (12) and a pair of mothers and daughters, Hiroki Yoshizaki and Mikiko Yoshizaki.
The four of them sat in a row to the left of the rear of the plane. They were lucky because it was part of the plane that was still intact.
However, Keiko was found under the wreckage of the plane. He was thrown from his chair and landed in the bushes when the plane hit the mountain.
It took three months for Keiko to recover from the severe wounds he suffered. After that he fully recovered and returned to live.
But that incident changed his life. The reason is that both Keiko's parents and her younger sister died in the accident.
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