Japanese authorities initiated an investigation on Wednesday into a perilously close encounter at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, where a coast guard plane and a passenger jet, greenlit for landing according to airline executives, narrowly avoided a catastrophic collision.
Tragedy struck with the loss of five lives on the Coast Guard aircraft, but a timely evacuation down emergency slides spared all 379 passengers and crew from harm, occurring just minutes before the Japan Airlines Airbus became engulfed in flames on Tuesday.
The charred remnants of the airliner, lingering on the tarmac on Wednesday, served as a poignant testament to the razor-thin margin of their escape.
The lone survivor of the coast guard plane, the captain, who had been transporting aid to the New Year’s Day earthquake zone, emerged with serious injuries.
Tuesday’s footage captured a gripping scene with a ball of fire and thick black smoke rising from under the airliner, which, following a front landing gear failure, came to a rest on its nose.
In a video shared on social media platform X, passengers were observed sliding down inflatable slides, framed by flames shooting out from the rear of the aircraft.
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Throughout the evacuation process, numerous fire engines with flashing blue and red lights were deployed to combat the flames. Regrettably, the entire plane was quickly engulfed, necessitating eight hours to completely extinguish the blaze.
“As soon as we landed, the was a ‘bang’. And I noticed a blaze rising from the right side,” a female passenger on board told broadcaster NHK.
“It was getting hot inside the plane, and I thought, to be honest, I would not survive.”
“I thought we landed normally. But then I realised I was smelling smoke. I looked outside and it was already burning,” a woman with a small child told NHK.
“I needed to protect my daughter. That was the only thing in my mind.”