A Japan Airlines plane became engulfed in flames on a runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday after an apparent collision on the ground with a Japan Coast Guard plane.
JAL said that 367 passengers and 12 crew members were on board the plane, an Airbus A350, but that they were all able to evacuate safely without injuries. Five of the six people on the coast guard plane died, with the captain sustaining severe injuries, NHK reported.
The JAL plane was arriving from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, NHK reported, adding that the collision occurred after the JAL plane 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 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.
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 Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said it is probing the incident.
“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 of Haneda’s runways were shut down at around 6 p.m. Flights were being 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.
Comments
Add new comment