Japan plane fire: All 379 passengers escape blaze; 5 crew members of other aircraft killed

A Japan Airlines aircraft caught fire at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday. Local media reported that that all people aboard, believed to have been about 379 people including the crew, got out safely. Five crew members of another aircraft the passenger plane had collided into lost their lives in the incident.

Tokyo: As many as 379 people including passengers and crew escaped miraculously after a passenger plane caught fire at Tokyo's Haneda airport after it collided with a Japanese coast guard aircraft on Tuesday. While all occupants of passenger plane got out safely, five crewmembers of the coast guard plane lost their lives.

NHK TV reported that all occupants of Japan Airlines flight JAL-516, believed to total 379 people, got out safely before the plane was entirely engulfed in flames. The Japanese coast guard, which operated the other plane, said its pilot had escaped but five crewmembers were killed.

Local TV video showed a large eruption of fire and smoke from the side of the Japan Airlines plane as it taxied on a runway. The area around the wing then caught fire. Footage an hour later showed the plane fully on fire. NHK TV said the plane was an Airbus A-350 that had flown from Shin Chitose airport, near the city of Sapporo, to Haneda.

Coast Guard spokesperson Yoshinori Yanagishima confirmed the collision between the passenger plane and its flight MA-722, a Bombardier Dash-8. Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays. The pilot evacuated but five crewmembers were trapped inside the aircraft and lost their lives

Kyodo News agency reported that the bodies of the five were later found. Swede Anton Deibe, 17, who was a passenger on the Japan Airlines plane, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that the entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes. We threw ourselves down on the floor. Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves at them.

The smoke in the cabin stung like hell. It was a hell. We have no idea where we are going so we just run out into the field. It was chaos," added Deibe, who was travelling with his parents and sister. Kyodo said the coast guard plane, which is based at Haneda, had been due to head to Niigata to deliver relief goods to residents affected by a deadly earthquake in the region on Monday that killed at least 48 people (With AP inputs)

Read More

1. Japan earthquakes leave 48 dead, destroy buildings along western coast