After a Tuesday collision at Tokyo’s Haneda airport with a Coast Guard aircraft, all 379 passengers and crew members of a Japan Airlines plane managed to miraculously escape a fire, but local media reported that the majority of the Coast Guard plane crew had died.
According to the Coast Guard, one of its aircraft was involved in the collision. It was en route to Niigata airport on the west coast of Japan to provide assistance to individuals affected by a strong earthquake that occurred on New Year’s Day and claimed the lives of at least 48 people.
Public broadcaster NHK said that five of the coast guard aircraft’s six crew members had passed away. Five members of the crew were missing, according to a coast guard spokesperson, but the captain had made his way out.
The Japan Airlines Airbus A350 aircraft burst into flames as it skidded down the tarmac at approximately 6 pm (13:00 MUT), according to live footage on public broadcaster NHK. Rescue workers worked feverishly to bring the fire under control, but it was eventually overtaken by the blaze but not before the 12 crew members and 367 passengers were taken out.
Social media users posted pictures and videos of passengers running across the tarmac to avoid an evacuation slide and yelling inside the smoke-filled cabin.
