After a collision with another plane at Tokyo Haneda International Airport, a Japanese airliner burst into flames and was completely burned out. Television images showed the Japan Airlines plane driving over the tarmac on Tuesday before orange flames shot out and the jet slowed.
The passenger plane collided with a Japanese Coast Guard plane while landing, Japanese media reported, citing the Transport Ministry. Two of the six people on board the coast guard plane were dead and the pilot was seriously injured, the Japanese television station TBS reported. The broadcaster NHK, however, reported that five inmates were missing and another was safe.
Live images from TBS showed people leaving the Airbus A-350 with flight number 516 via an emergency slide while the fire was being extinguished. Japan Airlines said all 367 passengers and 12 crew members on board had been evacuated. The airliner came from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido Prefecture.
The crew of the coast guard plane wanted to bring material to the earthquake zone on the country’s west coast, according to the Jiji news agency. At least 48 people have died in a series of quakes there since New Year’s Day. There was serious damage.
Haneda Airport is one of two international airports in the Japanese capital and is one of the airports with the highest number of passengers in the world.
