Yahoo News Hundreds of passengers escape after jet collides with small plane on its way to Japan quake zone
A Japan Airlines aircraft that was carrying passengers caught fire on the runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport after a collision with a coastguard plane.
All 379 passengers, including eight children, and crew aboard Flight 516 were led to safety, a feat described as a "miracle" by a former pilot.
However, of the six people aboard the coastguard plane, five crew have been found dead while the pilot, Genki Miyamoto, was able to escape.
"The aircraft exploded on the runway. I escaped. The [condition of the] other crew members is unknown," the 39-year-old said in a radio message after pulling himself from the wreckage.
Flames were seen coming out of the windows of the Airbus A350 as it skidded down the tarmac after landing.
The fire quickly took hold and grew to an inferno as the hull broke in two, despite fierce efforts from teams of firefighters to control the blaze.
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, already dealing with the deadly earthquake in his country, said the situation was "very disappointing and saddening" and offered his "heartfelt condolences".
He also expressed "heartfelt gratitude" for the efforts to evacuate the passenger plane.
Dramatic video taken by a passenger looking out of the aircraft window shows the plane moving down the runway, leaving a trail of smoke and burning with an orange light.
Sounds of loud rumbling from the engines could be heard as the plane sped along the tarmac, with an alert sounding repeatedly.
The unknown passenger said "I thought I was going to die" in their post on X alongside footage showing what looks like smoke inside the cabin.
All runways at Haneda - Japan's busiest airport - were closed as at least 70 fire trucks and other vehicles work to extinguish the blaze, but three runways later reopened.
Evacuation of Flight 516 'a miracle'
The flight landed at Haneda where it then collided with a coastguard aircraft on runway C.
It was seen travelling along the runway with flames on board before coming to a stop, as the fire engulfed the airliner.
Roger Whitfield, a former commercial pilot, told Sky News: "I think first of all, you've got to say that we just witnessed a miracle.
"The way they got all those passengers off that aeroplane is almost beyond belief.
"For the crew to have got all the passengers off, it's a miracle. There's no two ways about it."
There were no life-threatening injuries reported among those evacuated from the jet, but four people were taken to a medical facility, according to Japan Airlines.
Another former pilot, Alastair Rosenschein, said it could have been "so much worse".
The Airbus A-350 aircraft - Flight 516 - had departed from Shin-Chitose airport in Hokkaido.
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Five coastguard crew found dead
Six people were aboard the coastguard plane, which had been headed for the Niigata airport base to deliver humanitarian aid for the ongoing earthquake relief effort.
The pilot of the smaller plane was injured but escaped but the remaining five crew are reported by Japanese broadcaster NHK to have been found dead.
The aircraft was a Bombardier Dash-8, a propeller-driven short-haul plane that typically have between 50 and 80 seats.
Pilot and aviation consultant Tim Atkinson told Sky News the planes weigh 20-something tonnes and are "not anything like the size of the A350s" but are "sizeable enough to have a significant volume of fuel on board".
Investigation launched
Transport minister Tetsuo Saito said the cause of the incident was unclear.
The JTSB air accident agency has launched an investigation, to be joined by representatives from France, where the A350 aeroplane was built, and the UK, where its two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines were manufactured. Airbus said it was also sending technical advisers.
