At Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, on the 2nd, a Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger plane collided with a Coast Guard plane transporting earthquake relief supplies and a large fire broke out. Passengers who escaped from the JAL plane recalled the situation at the time as “like hell.”
According to the Associated Press, a passenger on a JAL plane said, “The cabin was filled with smoke in just a few minutes and it felt like hell,” adding, “We didn’t know where we were going and just ran out onto the runway. “It was chaos,” he said, describing the urgent situation.
Another passenger explained to Kyodo News, “At the time of landing, it felt like the aircraft was hit by something and pushed up,” and “I soon saw flames through the window, and the cabin was filled with gas and smoke.”
Outside the window, flames and sparks appear under the wings of a passenger plane running on the runway. X (Old Twitter) CaptureVideos taken directly from the plane by passengers also spread on social media. One X (old Twitter) user posted a video taken outside the window, saying, “I thought I was going to die.” Outside the window, you can see flames and sparks flying under the wings of a passenger plane running on the runway. A video was also uploaded showing passengers standing in their seats and screaming while the plane was filled with smoke.
Passengers are standing in their seats and screaming as the plane is filled with smoke. X (Old Twitter) CaptureJAL Flight 516 took off from New Chitose Airport near Sapporo, Hokkaido, and immediately after landing at Haneda Airport at around 5:47 p.m., it collided with a Bombardier MA722 aircraft belonging to the Coast Guard Haneda Air Base on the runway.
All 379 passengers and crew members on the JAL plane escaped immediately after the fire. The flight attendants activated the escape chute (slide) to escape the passengers, and the passengers moved without baggage.
Paul Hayes, director of aviation safety at British aviation consultancy Sirium, told Reuters, “It appears that the passengers were evacuated without carry-on bags. “It was miraculous that all the passengers got off the plane.”
After all the passengers escaped, the fire grew bigger and the entire plane was engulfed in flames, and eventually the plane melted and burned down.
Japan Airlines (JAL) Flight 516 is burning after landing engulfed in flames at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, around 5:47 p.m. on the 2nd. Tokyo = AP NewsisFive of the six people on board the Coast Guard aircraft died. It is reported that only one captain escaped through the flames. The Coast Guard aircraft was scheduled to transport supplies to Niigata Prefecture, one of the areas hit by the earthquake on the 1st.
Regarding the reason why the two planes collided on the runway, a Japanese aircraft expert said, “Either the JAL airliner or the Japan Coast Guard aircraft may have misheard the controller’s instructions,” and “It is also possible that the controller made a mistake,” the Asihi Shimbun reported. reported.
Hyewon Lee, Donga.com
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.