TOKYO (Reuters) – Authorities say five people were killed when an Airbus A350 collided with a smaller plane at Japan’s Haneda airport. 379 were rescued from the wide-body aircraft, which burst into flames on the tarmac shortly after the collision.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the Airbus collided with a Japanese Coast Guard plane on the runway while landing at around 6:00 p.m. local time. Five of the six crew members of the Dash-8 maritime patrol aircraft manufactured by Bombardier were killed. The captain of the plane was able to save himself. The cause of the collision still needs to be clarified. Among other things, the air traffic control conversations in the tower with the pilots of the two planes would be evaluated.
Live images from public TV broadcaster NHK showed the Japan Airlines (JAL) Airbus A350 burning on the tarmac. Firefighters tried to put out the flames. According to the authorities, all 367 passengers and twelve crew members had previously been rescued via emergency slides. NHK reported, citing the fire department, that there were at least 17 injured.
“I felt a bang as if we hit something. And the moment we landed, we were thrown upwards,” a passenger told Kyodo News Agency. “I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with smoke.”
Videos and images shared on internet platforms showed passengers screaming in the smoke-filled cabin. Others showed people running across the tarmac away from an evacuation slide.
A spokesman for Japan Airlines said the plane departed from New Chitose Airport on the northern island of Hokkaido towards Haneda. The Transport Ministry said there was no evidence that the plane had any problems. The Coast Guard plane was scheduled to fly from Haneda to Niigata on Japan’s west coast to deliver relief supplies to victims of a massive earthquake on New Year’s Day.
Haneda Airport is one of the two most important airports for the Japanese capital. It was initially closed for takeoffs and landings after the collision. Japanese airline ANA said it had canceled 112 domestic flights to and from Haneda.
(Report by Daniel Leussink, Sakura Murakami, Maki Shiraki and Tim Hepher. Written by Patricia Weiß and Ralf Bode, edited by Sabine Ehrhardt. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected])
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