A Japan Airlines plane with almost 400 people on board caught fire on the runway at Tokyo International Airport in Haneda. Everyone on board the commercial plane got out safely and five of the six occupants of the Coast Guard plane involved in the accident died.
The Airbus A350 flight departed from New Chitose Airport, in Hokkaido, Japan, with 367 passengers and 12 crew members and when it landed on the runway at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, it collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft. They appeared immediately, an explosion followed and the plane burned to the ground.
A Japanese Airlines plane seems to have caught fire after crash landing at Haneda Airport
@RadaBoxCom
— Flight Emergency (@FlightEmergency) January 2, 2024
The five people who were on board the Coast Guard plane with which the Airbus A350 collided on the airport runway died, police confirmed to NHK. The commander of this aircraft was found alive, but is seriously injured. As for the 379 passengers and crew who exited the commercial plane, at least 17 suffered minor injuries.
According to Reuters, the Coast Guard plane was heading to Niigata airport to deliver humanitarian aid to the victims of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the coastal area of Ishikawa, this Monday, and which, so far, has caused 48 deaths.
The Airbus plane was on fire for more than two hours on the runway at Tokyo International Airport, where all flights were suspended. According to Reuters, the Japanese Minister of Transport revealed, at a press conference, that the airport’s runways should open “by tomorrow or even today”.
URGENT:-????-Japan Airlines aircraft collided with coast guard plane causing fire. Passengers spotted escaping from burning plane#Japan #Tokyo #Fire #airlines pic.twitter.com/0qUqJkvw6d
— EUROPE CENTRAL (@europecentrral) January 2, 2024
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ordered that every effort be made to investigate the collision that occurred at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The person responsible undertook to publicly provide information about the accident.
Airbus, manufacturer of the commercial plane that burned after the collision and which remained in contact with the airline Japan Airlines, announced the sending of a team of experts to participate in the investigations. In a statement, the European aircraft manufacturer explained that these experts will help the authorities in charge of investigating the accident, the Japanese Transport Safety Board (JTSB) and the French Civil Aviation Safety Investigations and Analysis Bureau (BEA). .
The European manufacturer indicated that, for now, the exact circumstances of what happened are not known. Airbus had delivered this A350 to Japan, registered with the number JA13XJ, on November 10, 2021, when leaving the assembly line. Its engines are Rolls-Royce Trent XWV type reactors.
Images are circulating on social media of the moment of the crash and explosion, of passengers inside and leaving the place through the plane’s sleeve:
#BREAKING: New footage from inside Japan Airlines plane shows fire | @6NewsAU pic.twitter.com/crwFFwrmyi
— Leonardo Puglisi (@Leo_Puglisi6) January 2, 2024
All roughly 400 of the Crew and Passengers aboard Japan Airlines, Flight JL516 are reported to have been Evacuated on the Runway before the Plane was Fully Engulfed by the Flames, with Recovery Operations still ongoing for the Crew of the Japanese Coast Guard Aircraft. pic.twitter.com/WtlESO6JTP
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 2, 2024
Breaking: Following reports of an accident at Tokyo Haneda airport involving a Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 on fire after and a suspected collision with a coast guard aircraft. pic.twitter.com/VjVyJNFufK
— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) January 2, 2024
The former TAP commander, José Correia Guedes, praises, in statements to the Observador, the professionalism of the entire crew, stressing that “they managed to get everyone out in seconds”, but considers the collision of the two planes “abnormal” clue and points to “human error”.
Plane on fire in Tokyo. “There was a human error”
Source: https://observador.pt/2024/01/02/aviao-com-quase-400-pessoas-a-bordo-incendeia-se-em-aeroporto-de-toquio-passageiros-retirados-em-seguranca/