A passenger plane caught fire during landing at Tokyo’s busy Haneda Airport on Tuesday morning. Everyone on board was evacuated in time, Japan Airlines reported.
In images broadcast by the Japanese television channel TBS you can see how passengers leave the burning aircraft via the emergency slide. According to Japan Airlines, there were 367 passengers on board Flight 516, which was en route from Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido Prefecture, to Tokyo.
All passengers – as well as the airline staff – were evacuated in time, the airline said. Nothing is yet known about any injuries, the Japanese broadcaster reports NHK .
Crash
It is not yet clear why the aircraft caught fire. According to Japanese media, the plane hit a Japanese coast guard aircraft at the airport. That plane was said to have been on its way to Niigata airport to deliver relief supplies to the victims of the deadly earthquake on the Noto Peninsula. The coast guard reports that the captain was able to escape after the crash. There is uncertainty about the fate of the other people on board.
Haneda Airport reports that runways are temporarily closed due to the incident.