Japan Airlines jet collides with coast guard plane at Tokyo airport runway, 5 dead

YEREVAN, JANUARY 3, ARMENPRESS. A Japan Airlines Co. passenger jet collided with a Japan Coast Guard plane at Tokyo's Haneda airport Tuesday, causing both aircraft to catch fire and killing five coast guard members, while all 379 on board the commercial flight escaped without life-threatening injuries, Kyodo News Agency reports.

The cause of the incident, which occurred on a runway of one of the country's busiest airports after the JAL plane landed, remains unknown as air traffic communication records are not disclosed. JAL said its airplane coming from Sapporo was given permission to land.

Kyodo cited the coast guard as saying its airplane was going to take off to Niigata Prefecture to deliver food and water for people who have been affected by a magnitude-7.6 earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula and its vicinity along the Sea of Japan coast the day before.

The coast guard did not elaborate on exactly where its plane was on the tarmac at the time of the collision.

The accident occurred at around 5:47 p.m., soon after the JAL plane landed with 367 passengers on board, including eight small children.

The plane, an Airbus A350, stopped on the runway after running for a while following the collision. The passengers and crew then used emergency slides to get out of the fuselage as it was being engulfed in flames and smoke.

It took eight and a half hours for the fire on the JAL airplane to come under control, the Tokyo Fire Department said.

On the coast guard airplane, a Bombardier DHC8-300 based at the airport, the fire was also extinguished but five of the six on board, whose ages ranged from 27 to 56, were confirmed dead, according to police.

A total of 15 people were injured in the accident, including Genki Miyamoto, the coast guard plane's 39-year-old captain, according to firefighters.

The airport temporarily closed all four of its runways.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that he instructed transport minister Tetsuo Saito to investigate the cause of the accident.

Kyodo cited Tokyo Metropolitan Police as saying it has launched an investigation into the accident on suspicion of negligence resulting in death and injury.