Inside burning Japan Airlines plane as terrified passengers fled for their lives
Horror footage has captured the heart-stopping moment terrified passengers fled for their lives as the plane they were on burst into flames upon landing at Tokyo Airport this morning.
All 379 passengers of Japan Airlines flight JAL-516 got out safely before the plane was entirely engulfed in flames, NHK TV reported, but did not escape the psychological horror of the event. The Japanese coastguard said the pilot of its plane had escaped and local reports say that the five other crewmembers have sadly been found dead.
Swedish national Anton Deibe, 17, who was a passenger on the Japan Airlines plane, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that "the entire cabin was filled with smoke within a few minutes." Diebe, who was travelling with his parents and sister, continued: "We threw ourselves down on the floor.
"Then the emergency doors were opened and we threw ourselves at them. The smoke in the cabin stung like hell. It was a hell. We have no idea where we are going so we just run out into the field. It was chaos."
Passengers fled for their lives (Twitter)
Smoke filled the cabin as the fire erupted (Twitter)The incident happened when the passenger plane collided with a Japanese coastguard aircraft and burst into flames on the runway. Kyodo News said the coastguard plane, which is based at Haneda, had been due to head to Niigata to deliver relief goods to residents affected by a deadly earthquake in the region on Monday that killed at least 48 people. Hundreds of people across the country have been left homeless after damage to homes was so great that it could not immediately be assessed.
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Former commercial pilot Roger Whitefield told Sky News: "We have just witnessed a miracle The way they got all those passengers off that aeroplane is almost beyond belief." He reported seeing images of smoke pouring our of one of the rear doors, which would've made it close to zero visibility. For the crew to get all the passengers out, it's a miracle. There's no two ways about it," he told Sky.
An aviation expert told the Japan Times he had "never heard of such a major collision at an airport in Japan." Yoshitomo Aoki continued: "The world's air traffic control systems are designed to prevent accidents as long as air traffic controllers at airports issue correct instructions and pilots follow them."
Japan Airlines plane on fire on a runway of Tokyo's Haneda Airport (JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images)A clip on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed fire crews trying desperately to get the blaze under control as they doused it with streams of water. The fire had spread to cover most of the plane. Footage from inside the plane showed the moment the plane burst into flames. Passengers were seen evacuating the plane on inflatable slides and racing away from the burning plane, which is now almost destroyed by the aircraft.
All of Haneda’s runways were shut down at around 6 p.m. Flights were being diverted to airports across the country, including Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture, Chubu Centrair Airport near Nagoya and Kansai Airport in Osaka Prefecture, according to the Flightradar24 app. The incident came during one of the busiest travel periods of the year, with millions of Japanese travelling to and from their hometowns for the New Year’s holidays.
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