Planes collide and catch fire at Japan’s busy Haneda airport, killing 5
Published:Tuesday | January 2, 2024 | 11:01 AM
TOKYO (AP) — A passenger plane and a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft collided on the runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday and burst into flames, with five people on the smaller plane killed, officials said.
All 379 people on Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 got out safely before the plane was engulfed in flames, Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito confirmed.
The pilot of the Coast Guard plane escaped but the five crew members died, Saito said.
Tuesday’s accident was the first time one of the Airbus A350, among the industry’s newest large passenger planes, was severely damaged.
It entered commercial service in 2015.
The Japan Airlines A350 had flown from Shin Chitose airport near the city of Sapporo, the transport minister said.
Coast Guard spokesperson Yoshinori Yanagishima said its Bombardier Dash-8 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.
The turboprop Dash-8 is widely used on short-haul and commuter flights.
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