A Japan Airlines passenger has described the harrowing moment when the plane burst into flames after colliding with a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday.
Swede Anton Deibe, 17, told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that when Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 landed on the runway and the cabin quickly began to fill with smoke, there was a chaotic scene. He said it was expanded. The 17-year-old, his parents and his sister were among 367 passengers and 12 crew members who were safely evacuated from the plane.
A passenger said: “Within a few minutes, the whole plane was filled with smoke. We threw ourselves on the floor. Then the emergency door opened and we threw ourselves at it.” “The smoke on the plane hurt like hell. It was hell. I had no idea where I was going, I just ran out into the field. It was chaos.”
According to local news station NHK TV, citing the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, five people on board the Japan Coast Guard plane were killed, and the captain was hospitalized in critical condition.
JAL plane bursts into flames after collision at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, killing 5 people
Firefighters work at Haneda Airport after a fire on a Japan Airlines A350 occurred in Tokyo on January 2, 2024. (Reuters/Kazunari Kato)
According to NHK TV, the plane was an Airbus A-350 and flew from New Chitose Airport near Sapporo to Haneda.
Another passenger confirmed that the trouble occurred shortly after landing.
An unidentified passenger on the JAL plane told Kyodo News, “The moment we landed, I felt a shock as if I had hit something, and I was thrown upwards.'' “I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin was filled with gas and smoke.”
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Footage of the plane's landing showed flames starting near the wing and catching fire shortly after landing. The flames quickly spread throughout the plane.
Firefighters work at Haneda Airport after a Japan Airlines A350 burst into flames in Tokyo, January 2, 2024. (Reuters/Kazunari Kato)
Images shared on social media showed passengers using evacuation slides in their cabins to escape and running across the tarmac.
The mother of one of the passengers was waiting outside the arrivals gate when she received a call from her 29-year-old daughter and her boyfriend explaining that the plane had burst into flames.
“She said the plane caught fire and she escaped on a slide,'' Kaoru Ishii said, according to Reuters. She said: “She was really relieved that she was safe.”
On January 2, 2024, a Japan Airlines A350 caught fire at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. (Reuters/Kazunari Kato)
Hiroyuki Kobayashi, a former Japanese aircraft commander and aviation critic, told NHK News that the plane may have crashed due to a miscommunication with the air traffic control center.
He also said the large fire may have been ignited by a spark that reached the fuel tank.
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“Judging by the speed of the fire, it is possible that the fire caused by the impact of the plane's collision ignited the fuel tank in the wing,'' the former captain said.
On Tuesday, January 2, 2024, a Japan Airlines passenger plane caught fire on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. (via Kyodo News AP)
Japan Coast Guard spokesman Yoshinori Yanagishima confirmed the collision between the passenger plane and Japan Coast Guard flight MA-722 (Bombardier Dash 8).
A Japan Coast Guard aircraft based in Haneda was scheduled to fly to Niigata on Monday to deliver emergency supplies to residents affected by the earthquake that killed at least 48 people in the region, Kyodo News said.
The cause of the collision is under investigation.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
