A Japan Airlines plane was on fire on a runway in Tokyo's Haneda airport on Tuesday after collision with a Coast Guard aircraft. All 379 passengers and crew in the airline escaped from the fire miraculously.
According to reports, the collision involved one of Coast Guard's planes that was headed to Niigata airport on Japan's west coast to deliver aid to those caught up in a powerful earthquake that struck on New Year's Day, which had claimed over 40 lives.
Meanwhile, five of the six crew of the coast guard aircraft have died, public broadcaster NHK reported.
"I felt a boom like we had hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed...I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with gas and smoke," a passenger on the Japan Airlines flight told Kyodo news agency.
The footage by NHK showed that the Airlines (JAL) Airbus A350 aircraft bursting into flames as it skidded down the tarmac. Following the incident, Haneda, has closed all its runways.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed relevant agencies to coordinate to assess the damage swiftly and provide information to the public.
Japan's Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito confirmed that five of the coast guard aircraft's crew had died. The captain of the aircraft, a Bombardier-built Dash-8 maritime patrol plane, was injured.
Saito said the cause of the accident was unclear and the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB), police and other departments would continue to investigate.
The collision occurred shortly after landing."The transport ministry will attempt to resume the operations of Haneda airport as soon as possible," Saito added.
Meanwhile, many have praised the efforts of the resuce team to evacuate the passengers and crew in the airline. Rahm Emanuel, the American ambassador to Japan, praised the professionalism of the flight attendants, crew, and emergency responders who successfully evacuated and saved the lives of all 367 passengers on the JAL flight.
