Plane crash at Japan’s Haneda airport leaves 5 dead

A plane passenger crashed into a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft on Tuesday and caught fire on the runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, leaving five dead, officials reported.

All 379 people on Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 were unharmed before the plane was completely engulfed in flames, Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito said. The Japan Coast Guard said its pilot managed to escape, but five crew members died.

In video footage from local television it was possible to see fire and smoke coming out of the side of the Japan Airlines plane as it moved along a runway. The area around the wing then caught fire. An hour later, the shots showed the fuselage completely in flames.

NHK said the plane was an Airbus A-350 that flew from Shin Chitose Airport near the city of Sapporo to Haneda.

In later shots, firefighters were seen working to put out the fire, which devoured much of the plane. The flames were extinguished about six hours later.

Yoshinori Yanagishima, a Coast Guard spokesman, confirmed the collision between the passenger jet and its flight MA-722, a Bombardier Dash-8.

Swede Anton Deibe, 17, a passenger on the Japan Airlines plane, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that “the entire cabin filled with smoke within minutes. We throw ourselves on the floor. Then the emergency doors were opened and we rushed towards them.”

“The smoke in the cabin stung like hell. It was hell. We had no idea where we were going, so we just ran down the track. “It was chaos,” added Deibe, who was traveling with his parents and sister.

Kyodo said the coast guard plane, based in Haneda, was scheduled to leave for the city of Niigata to deliver supplies to residents affected by a deadly earthquake that struck the region on Monday, killing at least 55 people.

JAL CEO Tadayuki Tsutsumi said at a news conference Tuesday night that the A350 was undergoing a “normal entry and landing” on the runway, without specifying how it collided with the coast guard plane. Noriyuki Aoki, also chief executive of JAL, said the airline understands that the JAL flight had received permission to land from aviation control officials.

Police are expected to investigate the accident on suspicion of professional negligence, NHK television reported.

Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan. Many people travel during the New Year holiday.

The International Air Transport Association posted on social media site X that its thoughts were with those on board the two planes and said: “The last two days have been difficult for Japan.”