While landing in Tokyo, a Japan Airlines jet hit a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft, causing the passenger jet to explode, killing five Coast Guard members on the other plane. Japan Airlines said all 367 passengers and 12 crew members on the plane were safely evacuated at Haneda Airport on January 2, according to the New York Times.
Footage of the incident shows the Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 on fire as it slid across a runway. Flight 516 departed New Chitose Airport in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido and was scheduled to land at Haneda at 5:40 p.m., The Times reports. Footage from the incident showed firefighters trying to put out the flames. While no one was killed on the A350, at least 17 of the evacuated passengers were injured.
Footage and images shared on social media showed passengers shouting inside the smoke-filled A350’s cabin and running across the runway away from the plane, once it came to a rest, Reuters reports.
“I felt a boom like we had hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed,” a passenger said, according to Reuters. “I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with gas and smoke.”
The Coast Guard members were killed on a Bombardier-built Dash-8 maritime patrol plane en route to deliver supplies to the region impacted by a powerful earthquake that hit western Japan on January 1. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the members were “filled with a determined sense of mission, and it is extremely regrettable and distressing what has happened to them.” He added that the government would be working to ensure the crash didn’t “affect relief efforts” after the quake, which killed nearly 50 people, the Times reports.
Shortly after the crash, an air traffic controller told pilots “Airport is closed, Haneda airport is closed,” Reuters reports
Here’s where the matter stands right now, according to Reuters:
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed relevant agencies to coordinate to assess the damage swiftly and provide information to the public, according to his office.
Transport minister 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 said.
Haneda is one of the two main airports that serve Japan’s capital. Japan Airlines’ main rival – All Nippon Airways – said it canceled 112 domestic flights departing and landing at Haneda for the rest of January 2 because – you know – the runway is shut down.