Passenger plane collides on landing and bursts into flames
A Japan Airlines plane races across the tarmac on fire after landing in Tokyo. Shortly afterwards, passengers escape via emergency slides. The accident may have been caused by a collision with another aircraft.
A passenger plane caught fire on landing at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. An explosive fireball could be seen. Live images from the television station NHK showed the plane bursting into flames on the runway and firefighters feverishly trying to extinguish the fire. Japan Airlines announced that all of the almost 400 passengers had left the plane. They escaped via an emergency slide. There were 367 passengers and 12 crew members on board. The JAL aircraft, flight number 516, was coming from Hokkaido in the north of Japan and completely burnt out.
The passenger plane had collided with a Japanese Coast Guard plane on landing, Japanese media reported, citing the Ministry of Transportation. The Kyodo news agency reported that this aircraft also caught fire.
The Coast Guard said it was investigating the possibility that one of its aircraft had collided with the passenger plane. According to the report, there were six people on board the plane. The captain had escaped and the remaining five people were still missing. According to media reports, the pilot was injured.
The coast guard plane was on its way to Niigata Airport to deliver aid supplies to the Noto Peninsula region affected by the earthquake, according to reports. At least 48 people have died in a series of earthquakes there since New Year's Day. All runways at Haneda Airport are closed following the incident, according to an airport spokesman.
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Source: www.ntv.de
