TOKYO – The accident that occurred at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday (2/1/2024) resulted in a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 carrying 379 passengers and crew members catching fire. Television footage showed firefighting teams working hard to extinguish the flames engulfing the aircraft.
Surveillance camera footage showed the plane turning into a fireball shortly after landing on the runway at 6 p.m. local time. A live broadcast from NHK television station showed the plane skidding as it landed.
All passengers and flight crew miraculously managed to escape and were evacuated while the plane was engulfed in flames. However, five out of the six coast guard crew members involved in the accident tragically lost their lives, while another suffered serious injuries.
Recordings and images shared on social media showed passengers screaming inside the cabin filled with smoke and running across the tarmac away from the evacuation slides.
“I felt an explosion like we hit something and jolted upward as we landed,” said a passenger to the Kyodo news agency. “I saw sparks outside the window, and the cabin was filled with gas and smoke.”
The fire raged for about two hours before it was finally extinguished with great efforts from the firefighting teams.
A spokesperson for Japan Airlines stated that the aircraft departed from Shin-Chitose Airport in the northern mountains of Hokkaido Island. The collision occurred shortly after landing, according to Reuters reports.
The Coast Guard said the collision involved one of their planes heading to Niigata Airport on the west coast of Japan to deliver aid to those trapped in the powerful earthquake that struck on New Year’s Day, killing at least 48 people.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed relevant agencies to coordinate swiftly in assessing the damage and providing information to the public, according to his office.
Haneda, one of Tokyo’s two main airports, has closed all runways after the incident, according to a spokesperson.(clueworld)
Cecep Muhamad Yusup 
Redaksi