A Japan Airline passenger plane carrying 379 people erupted into flames after colliding with a smaller aircraft on the runway at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday. Remarkably, all passengers and crew onboard the Boeing 777 airliner were successfully evacuated without serious injury.
The jet had just arrived from Sapporo when it made contact with a coast guard plane that was getting ready to take off. Video showed the Japan Airlines aircraft skidding down the runway while being rapidly consumed by fire.
Passengers escaped using emergency slides and were rushed across the tarmac as thick black smoke billowed. Fire crews worked for hours to extinguish the raging blaze. The burnt-out fuselage was all that remained of the wide-body jet.
Tragically, five crew members aboard the coast guard plane died in the collision. The turboprop aircraft was heading to the site of a deadly earthquake to assist in recovery operations when the accident occurred.
While the exact cause remains under investigation, the skill and composure shown by the Japan Airlines crew has been widely praised. All four runways at Haneda, one of Tokyo’s two major airports, were temporarily closed due to debris and damage, causing significant air travel disruptions.
Remarkably though, not one of the over 350 jetliner passengers or crew suffered anything worse than minor injuries – thanks to a successful emergency evacuation. It represented the ultimate success of safety protocols under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
Japan Airlines: The damaged airport began reopening runways several hours later, although lengthy delays and cancellations continued into the night. Investigations are ongoing into exactly how the two aircraft came into contact on that fateful runway.