5 Japan coast guards killed in aircraft collision on Tokyo runway

Five of the six crew members aboard a Japan Coast Guard aircraft that collided with a passenger plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Tuesday were confirmed dead. Meanwhile, the captain who managed to escape was severely injured, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The Japan Coast Guard said the collision involved one of its planes that was headed to Niigata Airport on Japan's west coast to deliver aid to those caught up in a powerful earthquake that struck on New Year's Day, killing at least 48 people.

Live footage on public broadcaster NHK showed the Japan Airline (JAL) Airbus A350 aircraft bursting into flames as it skidded down the tarmac at around 6 p.m.

All 367 passengers and 12 crew members aboard the JAL flight escaped from the airplane while it was on fire without life-threatening injuries.

A spokesperson at JAL said its aircraft had departed from Shin-Chitose Airport on the mountainous northern island of Hokkaido. The collision occurred shortly after landing.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed the relevant agencies to coordinate to assess the damage swiftly and provide information to the public, according to his office.

Haneda, one of Tokyo's two main airports, has closed all runways following the incident, a spokesperson said.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said it was probing the incident, Kyodo added.

Japan has not suffered a serious commercial aviation accident in decades.

Its worst ever was in 1985, when a JAL jumbo jet flying from Tokyo to Osaka crashed in the central Gunma region, killing 520 passengers and crew.

That disaster was one of the world's deadliest plane crashes involving a single flight.

(With input from agencies)

(Cover: The Japan Airlines plane is on fire after a collision on a runway of Tokyo's Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan, January 2, 2024. /CFP)