TOKYO :
5 CREW MEMBERS PERISH IN PLANE FIRE; 379 PASSENGERS SAFE; PILOT ESCAPES
A PASSENGER plane collided
with a Japanese coast guard
aircraft and burst into flames
on the runway of Tokyo’s
Haneda Airport on Tuesday,
officials said.
NHK TV reported that all
occupants of Japan Airlines
flight JAL-516, believed to total
379 people, got out safely before
the plane was entirely engulfed
in flames.
The Japanese coast guard
said the pilot of its plane had
escaped.
NHK reported that the five
other crew members had been
found dead.
Local TV video showed a
large eruption of fire and smoke from the side of the Japan
Airlines plane as it taxied on
a runway. The area around
the wing then caught fire.
Footage an hour later showed
the plane fully on fire.
NHKTV said the plane was
an Airbus A-350 that had
flown from Shin Chitose airport, near the city of Sapporo,
to Haneda.
Coast Guard spokesperson Yoshinori Yanagishima
confirmed the collision
between the passenger plane
and its flight MA-722, a
Bombardier Dash-8.
Swede Anton Deibe, 17,
who was a passenger on the
Japan Airlines plane, told
Swedish newspaper
Aftonbladet that “the entire
cabin was filled with smoke
within a few minutes. We
threw ourselves down on the
floor. Then the emergency
doors were opened and we
threw ourselves at them.
“The smoke in the cabin
stung like hell. It was a hell.
We have no idea where we
are going so we just run out
into the field.
It was chaos,”
added Deibe, who was travelling with his parents and
sister. Kyodo said the coast
guard plane, which is based
at Haneda, had been due to
head to Niigata to deliver
relief goods to residents
affected by a deadly earthquake in the region on
Monday that killed at least
48 people.
Haneda is one of the
busiest airports in Japan, and
many people travel over the
New Year holidays.