All passengers, crew escape fireball on Japan Airlines plane after airport collision

Tokyo — All 379 passengers and crew of a Japan Airlines plane miraculously escaped from a fire sparked by a collision with a Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on Tuesday, but five of the six crew of the coast guard plane were killed.

The Coast Guard said the collision involved one of its planes that was headed to Niigata airport on Japan’s west coast to deliver aid to survivors of the  earthquake that struck on New Year’s Day, killing at least 48 people.

“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."

Live footage on public broadcaster NHK showed the Japan Airlines (JAL) Airbus A350 aircraft bursting into flames as it skidded down the tarmac shortly before 6pm (9pm GMT). It was overwhelmed by the blaze despite feverish efforts by rescue crews to control the fire. But not before all 367 passengers and 12 crew were evacuated.

Japanese transport minister Tetsuo Saito said five of the coast guard aircraft crew died. The captain of the plane escaped but was injured.

NHK, citing Tokyo’s fire department, said at least 17 of the people evacuated from the passenger plane were injured.

A transport ministry official told reporters the JAL plane was trying to land normally when it collided with the coast guard's Bombardier-built Dash-8 maritime patrol plane on the runway.

There were no reports of engine or other problems on the aircraft before it landed, said the official.

‘It was a miracle’

Footage and images shared on social media showed passengers shouting inside the smoke-filled cabin and running across the tarmac away from an evacuation slide.

Video also showed passengers being evacuated calmly via escape slides, apparently without hand luggage.

“The cabin crew must have done an excellent job. There don’t seem to be any carry-ons. It was a miracle that all the passengers got off,” said Paul Hayes, director of air safety at UK-based aviation consultancy Ascend by Cirium.

Aviation safety agencies have warned for years that pausing to collect carry-on baggage during an evacuation puts lives at risk.

Kaoru Ishii, a mother who was waiting outside the arrival gate for her 29-year-old daughter and boyfriend coming back on the flight, said she initially though the flight was delayed until her daughter called to explain.

“She said the plane had caught fire and she exited via a slide,” Ishii said. “I was really relieved that she was alright.”

A spokesperson at Japan Airlines said its aircraft departed New Chitose airport on the northern island of Hokkaido.

Runways reopening

Haneda, one of the two main airports serving the Japanese capital, was closed for several hours after the accident, but the transport ministry official said three runways had since resumed operations.

JAL’s rival Japanese airline ANA said earlier it cancelled 110 domestic flights departing and landing at Haneda for the rest of Tuesday due to the runway shutdown.

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.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said authorities were working to ensure the accident at Haneda did not affect deliveries of earthquake relief supplies.

“This is a great regret as the crew members performed their duties with a strong sense of mission and responsibility for the victims of the disaster area,” he said, referring to those killed on the coast guard plane.

Reuters