Japan Airlines flight catches fire after crash with Coast Guard plane at airport

A Japan Airlines plane with nearly 400 people aboard caught fire as it skidded down the runway after local media reported it crashed into Coast Guard aircraft while landing at Haneda Airport. All passengers and crew members escaped unscathed, according to the airline.

I felt a boom like we had hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed.

Passenger

Video of the incident shows the plane engulfed in flames at the airport in Tokyo around 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Jan. 2, with firefighters working to extinguish the blaze. Local outlets reported that emergency crews used at least 70 fire trucks and other vehicles to fight the fire.

A passenger on board the plane recounted their experience speaking with local outlet Kyodo News.

“I felt a boom like we had hit something and jerked upward the moment we landed,” the passenger said. “I saw sparks outside the window and the cabin filled with gas and smoke.”

Officials said the passenger jet collided with a Coast Guard aircraft; local media reported that five of the six crew members on the Coast Guard aircraft died in the collision, the pilot escaped.

The Coast Guard aircraft was on its way to the Niigata Airport on Japan’s West Coast responding to the deadly earthquake that hit Japan on New Year’s Day and killed at least 48 people.

The airline said all 379 passengers, including 12 crew members, were safely evacuated. According to reports, there is no immediate information on what caused the collision. The incident closed all runways at the airport.