Five crew members on a coastguard plane were killed and 379 people forced to evacuate a burning Japan Airlines jet after a horrific collision on a runway at Haneda airport in Tokyo.
JAL flight 516, an Airbus A350, was engulfed in flames soon after landing as it struck the smaller coastguard aircraft waiting to deliver aid to the earthquake-hit Noto peninsula.
Once the captain of the commercial jet managed to bring the burning aircraft to a stop, its 367 passengers, including eight children, plus 12 crew fled the plane’s smoke-filled cabin by sliding down inflatable ramps at its front.
The jet was soon entirely overcome by fire, with flames seen licking out of the cabin’s windows. At least 17 of those evacuated from the passenger plane had injuries including burns to the throat, according to the Tokyo fire department. Four were taken to hospital.
Five of the six people onboard the coastguard plane, a Bombardier Dash 8, were killed in the collision but its captain managed to escape the inferno with injuries.
Those on the passenger jet, which had arrived at about 5.47pm local time from New Chitose airport on the northern island of Hokkaido, later spoke of their terror after hearing the thud of the initial impact.
Social media footage from within the cabin showed how passengers could see the flames at the back exterior of the plane through the cabin windows as it continued down the runway immediately after the collision.
“Smoke began to fill the plane, and I thought, ‘This could be really bad,’” said one male passenger. “An announcement said doors in the back and middle could not be opened. So everyone disembarked from the front.”
Live television footage of the initial collision showed a landing jet about to touch down at night before a bright orange flash, with the plane rolling down the runway with flames and smoke trailing behind it.
“I felt a boom like we had hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed,” a passenger on the Japan Airlines flight told Kyodo news agency. “I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with gas and smoke.”
A 47-year-old office worker from Ota ward, Tokyo, told the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper that she had been sitting in the centre of the plane when she heard a huge thud. She looked out of the window to see smoke billowing from the wings, at which point she felt hot air around her face.
She said: “Smoke filled the cabin, and passengers shouted, ‘It’s on fire! It’s on fire!’”
Once the jet had been emptied of passengers firefighters from 110 fire engines tackled the blaze on the plane, which had become bent over on its nose after the collapse of its landing gear. The fire was extinguished by 8.30pm, nearly three hours after the initial impact.
The ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism and the national transportation safety board was investigating why both planes were on the same runway.
The coastguard plane had been preparing to fly to Niigata airport on Japan’s west coast to deliver supplies after the New Year’s Day earthquake which killed at least 48 people.
Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, praised the crew members, who were on their way to help the victims of the quake. He said: “These were employees who had a high sense of mission and responsibility for the affected areas. It’s very regrettable. I express my respect and gratitude to their sense of mission.”
Haneda, which was closed after the crash, is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the new year holidays. The airport suspended domestic flights for the day, according to its website, but most international takeoffs and landings were still operating.
