A Japanese passenger jet caught fire Tuesday night after it collided with a Japanese Coast Guard plane at Tokyo’s Haneda airport.
The Japan Airlines Airbus A-350 jetliner had just landed at Haneda after a flight from Shin-Chitose airport in northern Hokkaido island with 379 passengers and crew on board.
Television footage showed a burst of flames from one side of the plane as it rolled down the runway. The plane eventually became fully engulfed as it came to a stop, with flames shooting out of the windows and fuselage as firefighters battled the inferno.
All passengers and crew managed to escape from the burning plane before it was destroyed. Cellphone footage taken by some passengers showed the fire underneath the wing, as well as passengers trying to evacuate as the cabin filled with smoke.
A spokesperson for the coast guard confirmed the runway collision between its plane and the passenger jet. The spokesperson says the pilot escaped, but five crewmembers are missing. The plane was reportedly on its way to the Japanese west coast to deliver aid for the survivors of Monday’s deadly earthquake.
Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
