A Japan Airlines aircraft caught fire at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday after it collided with a coast guard plane, Japanese broadcaster NHK said in a report. The broadcaster said that several fires broke out in the airport and officials scrambled to extinguish the fires.
The television footage showed flames coming out windows and the plane’s nose on the ground as rescue workers sprayed it and burning debris were spotted on the runway. Over 70 fire engines have been deployed to bring the fire under control.
All 367 passengers were successfully evacuated from the blazing plane, Japanese broadcaster NHK said. The broadcaster said the captain of the coast guard plane survived but five crew members remain unaccounted for.
NHK citing the Japan Airlines said the plane that caught fire is Flight 516 which flew in from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Japanese coast guard officials at the Haneda airport said they were checking the details. Haneda has closed all runways following the incident, a spokesperson for the airport told news agency Reuters.
“It’s not clear if there was a collision. But it is certain that our plane is involved,” the official was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
Haneda is one of the busiest airports of the world and the nation, according to AFP has not suffered a serious commercial aviation accident in decades.
The incident underscores a grim start to 2024 for Japanese citizens who are emerging from a monster 7.5-magnitude earthquake that struck the nation’s Ishikawa Prefecture on Monday, which was followed by a 6-magnitude aftershock and at least 155 more aftershocks until Tuesday.
At least 48 people have died in the earthquake. Noto peninsula in the Ishikawa Prefecture is the worst-impacted.
